A highly unique member of the Pezizales with a very limited disjunkt distribution.

by Michael Kuo: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/chorioactis_geaster.html
Kuo, M. (2014, February). Chorioactis geaster. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/chorioactis_geaster.html

How cool is this thing? Like a cross between a cup fungus and an earthstar, Chorioactis geaster is found only in a few Texas counties and one prefecture in Japan. Texas collections like the one illustrated here are usually associated with decaying cedar elm stumps. At first, this mushroom looks like a tiny, fuzzy American football—but it soon begins to expand and peel back into star-like rays, as the color of the upper surface progresses from whitish to brownish orange to, finally, dull yellow.

it is the official state fungus of Texas.

According to genetic studies (Peterson et al. 2004) the Japanese and Texanian populations were separated into two lineages about 19 million years ago.

Apparently saprophic around rotten Ulmus crassifolia (Texas)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorioactis
Kuo, M. (2014, February). Chorioactis geaster. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/chorioactis_geaster.html
Nagao, H., Kurogi, S., Kiyota, E. & Sasatomi, K. 2009. Kumanasamuha geaster sp. nov., an anamorph of Chorioactis geaster from Japan. Mycologia 101(6): 871-877.
Peterson, K.R., Bell, C.D., Kurogi, S. & Pfister, D.H. 2004. Phylogeny and biogeography of Chorioactis geater (Pezales, Ascomycota) inferred from nuclear ribosomal DNA sequences. Harvard Papers in Botany 8: 141-152.
Pfister, D.H. & Kurogi, S. 2004. A note on some morphological features of Chorioactis geaster (Pezizales, Ascomycota). Mycotaxon 89: 277-281.
Pfister, D.H., Slater, C. & Hansen, K. 2008. Chorioactidaceae: a new family in the Pezizales (Ascomycota) with four genera. Mycological Research 112: 513-527.