Rare hissing mushroom resurfaces in Texas state park

BURNET COUNTY, Texas — A rare fungus has returned to Texas.

The Texas star mushroom (Choriocctis geaster), sometimes known as the hissing mushroom, was just found at the Inks Lake State Park in Burnet County. That's about an hour away from Austin.  

Texas Parks and Wildlife says when the mushroom expands, it releases a hissing noise and a hazy cloud of spores similar to the fungus that turns people into zombies in the show The Last of Us. 

While thankfully, this mushroom won't cause any type of apocalypse, it is rare and has only been found in Oklahoma, Japan and Texas.

There was a sighting of one before at Inks Lake State Park. This post was from February of this year from Inks Lake State Park.

Spotted today along the trail….. the State Mushroom of Texas… the Texas Star (Chorioactis geaster)!
This mushroom was officially designated so on July 22, 2021.
The rare and rather unique, star-shaped fungus is highly selective about where it grows, mostly attaching to decaying cedar elm stumps in the central and northern parts of Texas. Japan is the only other country where it has been seen and documented. Appearing in late fall, it emerges as a dark brown, fuzzy capsule 3-4 inches in length inspiring another of its nicknames, the “Devil’s Cigar.”
The distribution of the "Texas Star" tends to puzzle scientists. The fungus is entirely unique to Texas, with the exception of the odd sighting in Oklahoma, and around Kyushu, Japan, making it one of the rarest mushrooms in the world.
It is said that when the devil's cigar unfurls, it releases a strange hissing noise and hazy cloud of spores.
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Posted by Inks Lake State Park - Texas Parks and Wildlife on Sunday, February 5, 2023