Green Pepe (Mycena chlorophos)

Description
Mushroom Identification
Look-Alikes
History
Synonyms

Description

Imagine walking through a subtropical forest at night, and suddenly, you catch a glimpse of a soft, green glow peeking from fallen twigs and logs. That’s no trick of the light—it’s Mycena chlorophos, a magical, bioluminescent mushroom! 🍄✨

Discovered way back in 1860, this tiny, sticky-capped fungus calls home to subtropical regions of Asia, Australia, and even Brazil. Its delicate, pale brownish-grey cap stretches just 30 mm across, perched on a slim stem. But don’t let its size fool you—its enchanting glow more than makes up for it! 🌌

The mushroom’s glow is strongest when it first appears, slowly fading after about 72 hours. That soft, eerie green light feels like something out of a fairy tale. 🧚‍♂️ While it's beautiful, be warned: its strong ammonia smell makes it less appetizing, and its edibility remains a mystery! 🌱

Mycena chlorophos thrives on decaying wood, sprouting from fallen branches, twigs, and logs. And even though its glow fades quickly in nature, researchers have cultivated it in labs, figuring out the perfect temperatures for growth and light emission. 🌡️ If you're lucky enough to spot it in the wild, consider it a rare treat of nature’s nighttime light show!

🎇 Fun Fact: Even though it’s naturally from Asia, scientists believe humans might have accidentally brought this glowing gem to other parts of the world, like Australia and Brazil.

Mushroom Identification

🔍 Cap:

Starts convex, then flattens, sometimes forming a central depression.
Size: Up to 30 mm (1.2 in) wide.
Color: Pale brownish-gray, but fades after expansion.
Texture: Sticky, with radial grooves extending to the center, sometimes cracked at the margin with small rounded teeth.

🦶 Stem:

Length: 6–30 mm (0.24–1.18 in).
Width: 0.3–1 mm thick, hollow, and translucent.
Surface: Tiny hairs cover the stem, with a disc-shaped or slightly bulbous base (1–2.5 mm wide).

🍃 Gills:

Thin and free or adnexed (narrowly attached to a collar around the stem).
Color: Initially white, turning grayish as they age.
Arrangement: Somewhat crowded, with 17–32 full-length gills and 1–3 tiers of shorter gills (lamellulae).
Micaceous edges: Sparkling, delicate.

💡 Special Feature:

Bioluminescence! Both the cap and gills glow a soft green in the dark, but the stems have little to no luminescence.

👃 Smell:

A strong odor of ammonia (not the most pleasant!).

🏞️ Habitat:

Found in forests on woody debris like fallen twigs, branches, and bark. In some regions, it grows on decaying palm petioles.
Thrives in humid conditions, particularly after rainfall during rainy seasons.

🌍 Distribution:

Subtropical Asia (Japan, Taiwan, Polynesia, Java, Sri Lanka), as well as Australia and Brazil.
Unfortunately, populations are declining due to habitat loss, so conservation efforts are crucial!

✨ Fun Fact: Mycena chlorophos even made its way onto a Samoan postage stamp in 1985!

Look-Alikes

1️⃣ Mycena discobasis:

Cap color: Paler than M. chlorophos.
Spore size: Larger, measuring around 9.9 by 6.7 μm.
Cheilocystidia: Lacks the short apical appendage found in M. chlorophos.

2️⃣ Mycena margarita:

Spore size: Smaller, averaging 6.9 by 4.4 μm.
Cheilocystidia: Smaller than those in M. chlorophos.
Clamp connections: Loop-like, providing a unique microscopic feature.

History

The captivating Mycena chlorophos, also known as the "night-light mushroom" (yakoh-take in Japan) and "Green Pepe" in the Bonin Islands, was first discovered in 1854 by American botanist Charles Wright during a North Pacific expedition. It was formally described in 1860 by two renowned scientists, Miles Berkeley and Moses Ashley Curtis, under the name Agaricus chlorophos. 🍄✨

In 1887, Pier Andrea Saccardo moved this magical fungus to the Mycena genus, and in 2010, Daniel Desjardin and his team further clarified its identity, setting a lectotype specimen. Interestingly, another species called Agaricus cyanophos was found near the same location but later merged into M. chlorophos after much research. This glowing beauty belongs to the section Exornatae, home to other bioluminescent fungi like M. discobasis and M. marginata.

Though its light glows faintly green, the history behind this mushroom is as bright and fascinating as its bioluminescence! ✨🍄