Lümfivees

Lümfivees is a genus of bioluminescent mushrooms in the family Mycenaceae, order Agaricales. Described in 2012 by mycologist Eva Kesten from specimens collected in northern European and North American forests, the genus comprises several small saprotrophic species that glow faintly in the dark.

The fruit bodies are small to medium, with slender stipes and typically convex caps 1–4 cm across. Cap color is variable, usually pale to brownish, with a translucent edge. The characteristic feature is greenish-blue to emerald luminescence visible under moonless conditions, strongest at the cap margin and along the stipe. The spores are white.

Grows on decaying hardwood and conifer wood, often in damp leaf litter. Fruiting season is late summer to autumn, and luminescence may be observed after warm rains. The genus is saprotrophic, contributing to the breakdown of wood and leaf litter.

Documented in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Germany, and sections of Canada and the United States, with likely underreported populations in other boreal regions where suitable substrates occur.

Not currently listed as threatened; populations appear locally common but depend on forest management practices that maintain decaying wood availability. Conservation assessments are limited and typically aligned with broader forest ecosystems rather than the genus in isolation.

The genus name combines a reference to light with a suffix denoting its plural taxonomic standing. Type species: Lümfivees noctilucens.

Selected species include Lümfivees noctilucens, Lümfivees ceruleus, and Lümfivees aureus.