Foxfire, also sometimes referred to as "fairy fire", is the bioluminescence

Bioluminescence

Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by a living organism. Its name is a hybrid word, originating from the Greek bios for "living" and the Latin lumen "light". Bioluminescence is a naturally occurring form of chemiluminescence where energy is released by a chemical reaction in...

 created by some species of fungi

Fungus

A fungus is a member of a large group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds , as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, Fungi, which is separate from plants, animals, and bacteria...

 present in decaying wood. The bluish green glow is attributed to luciferase

Luciferase

Luciferase is a generic term for the class of oxidative enzymes used in bioluminescence and is distinct from a photoprotein. One famous example is the firefly luciferase from the firefly Photinus pyralis. "Firefly luciferase" as a laboratory reagent usually refers to P...

, an oxidizing agent

Oxidizing agent

An oxidizing agent can be defined as a substance that removes electrons from another reactant in a redox chemical reaction...

, which emits light as it reacts with luciferin

Luciferin

Luciferins are a class of light-emitting biological pigments found in organisms that cause bioluminescence...

. Although the purpose is unknown, it is widely believed that the light is meant to attract insects to spread its spores or act as a warning to hungry animals, similar to the bright colors exhibited by some species of animals. Although generally very dim, in some cases it can be bright enough to read by.

History

The oldest recorded documentation of foxfire was written by Aristotle

Aristotle

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...

 in 382 B.C. His notes make a reference to a light that, unlike fire, was cold to the touch. The Roman thinker Pliny the Elder

Pliny the Elder

Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...

 also mentioned glowing wood that appeared in olive groves. Although there are many more literary references to foxfire by early scientists and naturalists, the true cause wasn't discovered until 1823. The glow emitted from wooden support beams in mines was examined, and it was found that the luminescence was due to fungal growth.

On the suggestion of Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin

Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...

, it was used for light in the Turtle

Turtle (submarine)

The Turtle was the world's first submersible with a documented record of use in combat. It was built in Old Saybrook, Connecticut in 1775 by American Patriot David Bushnell as a means of attaching explosive charges to ships in a harbor...

, an early submarine.

In popular culture

• In the episode "Trapped" of the TV series Lassie
  Lassie
  Lassie is a fictional collie dog character created by Eric Knight in a short story expanded to novel length called Lassie Come-Home. Published in 1940, the novel was filmed by MGM in 1943 as Lassie Come Home with a dog named Pal playing Lassie. Pal then appeared with the stage name "Lassie" in six...
  
  , Timmy and Boomer look for foxfire to keep girls away from them during Martha Tyson's Halloween Party.

• In the novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
  Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
  Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel by Mark Twain, first published in England in December 1884 and in the United States in February 1885. Commonly named among the Great American Novels, the work is among the first in major American literature to be written in the vernacular, characterized by...
  
  by Mark Twain
  Mark Twain
  Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
  
  , the characters Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer use foxfire as a source of light in order to dig a tunnel.

• In the episode "Our Town" of the TV series X-Files, foxfire appears near where a dead body was found in the woods.
• In the episode "The After School Hexer" of the anime Ghost Hunt
  Ghost Hunt
  , originally titled , is a light novel series written by Fuyumi Ono. It follows the adventures of the Shibuya Psychic Research Center as they investigate mysterious occurrences all over Japan with a team of other spiritualists and clever assistants. Although the last novel was published in 1994,...
  
  , foxfires appear in several rooms of the high school in Mai Taniyama's dream.

External links

• Foxfire: Bioluminescence in the Forestpdf file by Dr. Kim D. Coder, University of Georgia 8/99
• Bioluminescent Fungi at Mykoweb