Officials have spotted a rare mushroom — characterized by the unique “hissing” sound that it makes as it spawns — at one of Texas’ state parks.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) announced on Monday that it had found Texas Star Mushrooms spawning in the Inks Lake State Park in Central Texas. The department posted several images of the mushrooms embedded in the soil.
Chorioactis geaster, otherwise known as the Texas Star Mushroom, is a star-shaped mushroom that is typically found growing on cedar elm stumps in parts of central and north Texas as well as parts of Oklahoma. Japan is the only other nation in the world where this mushroom has been found, according to the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens.
House Concurrent Resolution 61, which was passed by the 87th Legislature, made the mushroom the official state mushroom of Texas, describing it as “custom designed for the Lone Star landscape.”
The mushroom normally is seen in the fall months, where it appears first as a dark brown cone between three and four inches in height inspiring its other nickname, the “Devil’s Cigar.” It splits into its more familiar star shape when it is spreading spores.
Bob O’Kennon, a researcher with the Fort Worth Botanic Garden, said that it is likely that only a few hundred people have ever seen this species of mushroom in person.
“I first spotted it at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden, then started looking for it around decaying cedar elms and saw it at a few other places,” said O’Kennon, per the Botanic Garden’s website. “What’s really interesting about this species is not only the cigar-like shape, but when it opens up, there is an audible hissing sound when it forcibly releases its spores.”
This, however, is not the first time this year that the fungus has made an appearance at the park. TPWD officials spotted the hissing mushroom earlier this year in February, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.