Photo: Inks Lake State Park - Texas Parks and Wildlife/Facebook
One of the rarest mushrooms in the world was spotted in Texas over the weekend.
The "Texas Star," which also happens to be the State Mushroom of Texas, was found Sunday (February 5) along a trail at Inks Lake State Park in Burnet, the park shared on Facebook. The "rare and rather unique" fungus, dubbed the "Devil's Cigar," releases a strange hissing noise and a "hazy cloud of spores" when it's unfurled.
The Chorioactis geaster, which is only found in Texas, with the exception of the rare sighting in Kyushu, Japan, "tends to puzzle scientists." It's basically a "mystery" why this fungus only appears in two regions, which are separated by thousands of miles. "They didn’t have a lot of information on why this is, and they credit lack of funding and research. But essentially it’s a mystery," the Texas Standard reports.
It's highly selective where it grows and when it does, it attaches itself to a decaying cedar elm stump. It typically appears in central and north Texas in late fall. Keep your eyes peeled for a "dark brown, fuzzy capsule 3-4 inches in length," the state park warns.
Not to worry, though. The Texas Star isn't poisonous — but you can't eat it, either.
Take a look at photos of the Texas Star fungus found in Texas below: