Xylaria Hypoxylon, Carbon Antlers

Day 3: First of all, conditions have to be perfect for Xylaria hypoxylon to bioluminesce. It can't be too warm or too cold. The humidity has to be just right. And above all, it has to be dark if you want to see it happen. If everything is just Goldilocks-right, a light tap of Carbon Antlers with a small stick or a finger will produce a tiny and brief dot of blue light, or at least that's my experience with the group which fruits on an old hawthorn stump in my back yard. I've only witnessed it a few times (the first, entirely and surprisingly by accident), and have never been able to capture the fairy-lantern will-o'-the-wisp blink with the camera. Despite that, it pleases me to know that I have a bioluminescent fungus so close at hand.