The Kenting National Park Administration Office yesterday announced the discovery of a new variety of fluorescent mushroom — Mycena kentingensis — becoming the ninth variety of fluorescent mushrooms recorded in Taiwan and the 74th in the world.
The mushroom was found when Shih Yu-shen (施雨伸), a graduate student from National Chung Hsing University’s Department of Life Sciences, was conducting a fluorescent mushroom classification survey in the national park area’s Sheding Nature Park (社頂自然公園).
After finding one known fluorescent mushroom — Mycena chlorophos — growing in the park, Shih came upon another one nearby and, after identifying its shape and conducting a DNA sequence, confirmed that this second mushroom was a new variety.
The pileus (cap) of the newly discovered full-grown Mycena kentingensis is only 3mm to 8mm wide, has tiny bumps on the surface of the pileus, and glows fluorescent green, the office said. Like the M chlorophos, M kentingensis glows fluorescent green from its pileus and hyphae, but has a smaller pileus and grows on withered branches, the office said.
It said that as the glowing mechanism of fluorescent mushrooms is still unknown, the research team has grown M kentingensis in the laboratory so it can be studied.
ALIGNED THINKING: Taiwan and Japan have a mutual interest in trade, culture and engineering, and can work together for stability, Cho Jung-tai said Taiwan and Japan are two like-minded countries willing to work together to form a “safety barrier” in the Indo-Pacific region, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday said at the opening ceremony of the 35th Taiwan-Japan Modern Engineering and Technology Symposium in Taipei. Taiwan and Japan are close geographically and closer emotionally, he added. Citing the overflowing of a barrier lake in the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) in September, Cho said the submersible water level sensors given by Japan during the disaster helped Taiwan monitor the lake’s water levels more accurately. Japan also provided a lot of vaccines early in the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,
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TEMPORAL/SPIRITUAL: Beijing’s claim that the next Buddhist leader must come from China is a heavy-handed political maneuver that will fall flat-faced, experts said China’s requirement that the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation to be born in China and approved by Beijing has drawn criticism, with experts at a forum in Taipei yesterday saying that if Beijing were to put forth its own Dalai Lama, the person would not be recognized by the Tibetan Buddhist community. The experts made a remarks at the two-day forum hosted by the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama titled: “The Snow Land Forum: Finding Common Ground on Tibet.” China says it has the right to determine the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation, as it claims sovereignty over Tibet since ancient times,
Temperatures in some parts of Taiwan are expected to fall sharply to lows of 15°C later this week as seasonal northeasterly winds strengthen, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. It is to be the strongest cold wave to affect northern Taiwan this autumn, while Chiayi County in the southwest and some parts of central Taiwan are likely to also see lower temperatures due to radiational cooling, which occurs under conditions of clear skies, light winds and dry weather, the CWA said. Across Taiwan, temperatures are to fall gradually this week, dropping to 15°C to 16°C in the early hours of Wednesday
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