Messing with nature - Firefly Petunia

[Roberta]

Early last summer, I acquired a rather unusual petunia plant. It looks pretty ordinary by day, but after dark it shows another side. It's transgenic, containing a gene from a bioluminescent mushroom. The glow is subtle, strongest in buds and newly-opening flowers. I finally managed to photograph it (6 minute exposure in a very dark room) The photo at first shows just the brightest parts - two flowers just opening, and a bud. But I increased the brightness in Photoshop (no other processing) and sooo much more detail appeared (though the brightening reduced the resolution of the brightest parts, made them a bit overexposed). So... here is the plant in daylight, the photo right out of the camera, and the same photo brightened to see what was REALLY there!. To get that last view with just eyes, neecessary to dark adapt for a bit.