Extremely Rare 'Devil's Cigar' Mushroom Spotted in Texas

It makes a hissing noise before releasing cloud of spores
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 20, 2023 1:41 PM CST
Extremely Rare Hissing Mushroom Spotted in Texas
An unfurled devil's cigar.   (Wikipedia/Tim Jones)

An extremely rare hissing mushroom known as the Texas star or the "devil's cigar" has been spotted in a Texas state park. Inks Lake State Park, around 60 miles west of Austin, said in a Facebook post that visitors hoping to see the fungus should ask at headquarters. "It is said that when the devil's cigar unfurls, it releases a strange hissing noise and hazy cloud of spores," the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said after a sighting earlier this year. That's similar to the the fungus in The Last of Us, but this mushroom won't turn people into zombies or "cause any type of apocalypse," KHOU reports.

TPWD officials say the mushroom, which usually grows on decaying cedar elms, isn't poisonous, but it's not edible, either, MySA reports. Officials say it's one of the rarest mushrooms in the world, with a distribution that puzzles scientists. It has only been spotted in Texas, Oklahoma, and a few spots in Japan. The Fort Worth Botanical Garden says it was nicknamed the "devil's cigar" because it emerges as a dark brown capsule 3 or 4 inches long, Houston Chronicle reports. After it unfurls with a hiss, it is star-shaped, which led to it being designated Texas' official mushroom in 2021. Minnesota and Oregon are the only two other states with official mushrooms. (More mushrooms stories.)

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