Rare Texas Star Mushrooms Draw Enthusiasts Across Central Texas This Winter

Butterscotch-colored, leathery stars are pushing up from a bed of dead leaves around a decaying Cedar Elm stump at the Zilker Botanical Garden in Austin. They are Texas star mushrooms, and this winter they are appearing in and around the city, to the delight of local fungus enthusiasts.

Angel Schatz, an organizer with the Central Texas Mycological Society, a nonprofit that teaches the public about fungi and their role in the environment, examined the cluster closely. "We have a seven-pointed star here, which is really typical and it's just looking gorgeous today," she said, pointing out some especially large specimens.

The Texas star is the official State Mushroom of Texas, a designation the Legislature approved by resolution in 2021. Schatz said Texas was the third state to name one, after Minnesota and Oregon, with California and Utah following last year. She said she hopes every state eventually picks its own. The resolution described the mushroom's shape as seeming "custom designed for the Lone Star landscape," and noted that Texas is one of the few places it has been found. A botanist first collected specimens in Austin in 1893.

The fungus, known scientifically as Chorioactis geaster, has also been identified in Japan, Oklahoma and possibly Taiwan. How it came to occupy such distant locations remains a puzzle, according to David Hibbett, a Clark University biology professor who has studied fungi for decades. He said Harvard researchers traced the common ancestor of the Japanese and Texan mushrooms to roughly 19 million years ago, which rules out human transport. Whether spores crossed the Pacific or the fungus predates the breakup of northern hemisphere continents is unknown. "We really don't know," he said.

Hibbett suggested that close study would probably show the two populations are now separate species, though they look very similar apart from subtle differences. He added that the Texas star is not like a grocery-store mushroom, being more closely related to yeast and lichen than to a button mushroom. Still, he considers it a true mushroom: "a macroscopic fruiting body of a fungus" whose sole purpose is to release spores.

That release gives the fungus its other nickname, the Devil's Cigar. Before opening into a star, the closed fruiting body is dark and cylindrical, resembling a short, fat cigar. When it splits open and sends out a smoky puff of spores, it makes an audible hiss. Schatz said only 15 mushrooms known to date make a sound audible to humans.

For those hoping to spot one, Schatz advises looking for Cedar Elm stumps that have blackened and begun to break down into a jagged, crown-like shape. She recommends slowing down while searching and suggests using iNaturalist, where other enthusiasts have logged sightings.

The Central Texas Mycological Society is hosting a series of Texas Star Mushroom Walks, including one on Jan. 21 at Inks Lake State Park, about 70 miles northwest of Austin. Park staff reported on social media last month that they had seen the stars there.

Park Superintendent Barrett Durst said the sightings and the resulting media coverage have prompted "tons of calls" from people asking where to find the mushroom. His answer, he said, is always to come out and see it, though he urged visitors to tread lightly to avoid damaging the environment. He has seen many of the mushrooms along the Valley Spring Creek Trail, and they can also be found on the Devil's Backbone Nature Trail. Durst said he enjoys watching visitors' reactions: "if someone's treasure is seeing a mushroom — that's awesome."