The Texas Stars came out for our Zilker Mushroom Project kick-off this afternoon. We saw it in its many forms, cigar all the way to full 6 points. They are found near dead cedar elms, which are all over Austin. Just look closely at the base of the dead stump for the cigar shape.
The Texas Star or Chorioactis geaster is only found in Central Texas area up into the Oklahoma border. It is also found in Japan and scientists do not know why this mushroom is only found in these two geographies or why it has a disjunct distribution. Genetic analysis has determined that the two populations have been separated for at least 19 million years ruling out the possibility of human introduction. Basically scientists have no idea why these two populations are separated by such distance.
We think this mushroom should be the Texas state mushroom. What do you all think?
Thanks to everyone that came out to help ID mushrooms within the Zilker study area. Anyone else can also participate by adding mushrooms they find in the Zilker Mushroom Project on iNaturalist.org.
