River Legacy Parks is one of the few known habitats of the Devil's Cigar, discovered here in 1991. This unusual, three-inch fungus has an incredible life history and is highly unique because of its ability to make hissing sounds.

Known scientifically as Chorioactis geaster, this particular species is from the class Ascomycetes.

Information regarding the Devil's Cigar is scarce. Texas and Japan are the only places where it has been reported. It was first reported in Austin in 1893. The scarcity of this fungus in nature is almost matched by the rarity of references in taxonomic keys, literature and textbooks.

In River Legacy Parks, the Devil's Cigar grows around decaying cedar elm stumps and can usually be spotted in the fall through December. The velvety brown spindle-shaped tube pokes through the leaf litter up to four inches and eventually splits open forming three to six rays to expose a lighter smooth inner surface. From this exposed inner surface, a smoke-like cloud of spores is released with an audible hiss, thus the name Devil's Cigar.