Fungi fans in their thousands are flocking to an eerie display of ghost mushrooms deep in a regional South Australian forest.
The bioluminescent fan-shaped Omphalotus nidiformis, better known as ghost mushrooms, are flourishing after heavy rainfall.
ForestrySA's Ghost Mushroom Lane is nestled among pine plantations about 16 kilometres from Mount Gambier on the Limestone Coast.
ForestrySA chief executive Julian Speed said viewing the mushrooms at Glencoe would be an experience.
While the mushrooms were initially patchy, he said the wet weather had seen them pop up in abundance.
"It's almost immediate. The longer they have to grow, the bigger they are and the more luminescent they'll be with the right conditions," Mr Speed said.
"There is certainly enough out there right now that we're confident that people will have a good experience anytime during June."
Mr Speed said guests to the tourism site should visit on the darkest night to get the most out of the experience.
"There's some info on our website about that so people can time their visit on the darkest nights."
Mr Speed said the mushrooms could pop up anywhere after rain.
"They only pop up in the right conditions. It's almost impossible to say where they might be," he said.
"The trails aren't really static for the whole season. They do change around a bit.
"Our staff are busily rearranging the trails so that people have the best opportunity to see these mushrooms glowing."
On a fungi adventure
Walk the Limestone Coast owner Natasha Dawson said viewing the mushrooms was a unique experience.
"It's such a fully immersive experience [in] the smell of the forest, the dampness of the forest, rugging up in winter gear, going on an adventure with your friends or your family," she said.
"Just simply being in the forest at night and watching these illuminating mushrooms just light up the darkness around you [is an experience]."
The mushrooms were first discovered about six years ago when a local photographer was out for some night-time shooting and stumbled upon a patch of glowing mushrooms.
Native to Australia, this species of ghost mushroom thrives on decaying plant material.
To the naked eye the mushrooms will emit a soft white glow, but turn the camera on them at night and observers are treated to an alien-like vibrant green glow.
The glow is caused by a chemical reaction when enzymes in the mushrooms react with oxygen in the air.
Bioluminescent fungi can be found all around the world, but this particular species is rare and unique to South Australia and Tasmania.
