Summary ²

Cladonia (cup lichen) is a genus of moss-like lichens in the family Cladoniaceae. They are the primary food source for reindeer and caribou. Cladonia species are of economic importance to reindeer-herders, such as the Sami in Scandinavia or the Nenets in Russia. Antibiotic compounds are extracted from some species to create antibiotic cream. The light green species Cladonia stellaris is used in flower decorations.

Description ³

 Life habit: lichenized; Thallus: composed of primary (basal, horizontal) and secondary (erect) parts; cortex: dense, composed of ± vertically-oriented hyphae; medulla: usually 2-layered; the outer layer: white, composed of ± loose hyphae, containing algal glomerules; the inner layer: hyaline or white, cartilaginous, with conglutinate hyphae surrounding the central canal; Primary thallus: composed of basal squamules, closely adpressed to the substrate, or ascending to erect, rounded to elongate, entire or variously indented, sorediate or esorediate, sometimes persistent, occasionally dominant; upper surface: corticated; lower surface: composed of ecorticate layer of hyphae, hyphae roughly parallel-oriented, radiating in a flabelliform pattern from the basal portio, which is generally attached to the substrate; Secondary thallus: consisting of hollow to rarely solid podetia, growing from upper surface or margins of primary thallus, blunt, pointed, or cup-forming, simple or branched; branch axils: closed or perforate; perforations: occasionally enlarging (forming funnel-like structures often called "open cups") and deforming; surface: variably corticate to ecorticate, generally composed of some combination of continuous cortex, cortical granules, verruculae, soredia, and squamules; photobiont: primary one a Trebouxia, secondary photobiont absent; Ascomata: lecideine apothecia, borne at apices of podetia, on cup rims, at branch apices, or rarely sessile on basal squamules; discs: red, pale or dark brown, darkening with age and sometimes blackening; asci: cylindrical to elongate-clavate; apex: Porpidia type, with strongly amyloid (I+ blue) apical dome, including very narrow weakly amyloid central zone surrounded by a tube-like, strongly amyloid zone; wall: nonamyloid except for outer layer; 8-spored; ascospores: biseriate, ellipsoid to oblong-ellipsoid, simple to rarely one-septate, hyaline, oblong or ovoid, 6-16 (-24) x 2-6 micro meter; Conidiomata: pycnidial, borne at apices of podetia, on cup rims, at branch apices, or on basal squamules, infrequently arising laterally on podetia, red, brown or carbonaceous to blue-black, cylindrical to urn-like (ampullaceous), short-stalked or sessile, often constricted at base; containing hyaline or red gelatin; conidia: sickle-shaped, rarely straight, hyaline, 3-10 (-14) x 0.5-1 micro meter; Secondary metabolites: depsides, depsidones, dibenzofurans and derivatives (incl. usnic acids), terpenoids, aliphatic acids, and quinone pigments; Geography: arctic regions to Antarctica, tundra to tropical forests but widely absent from arid regions; Substrate: on soil, especially acidic humus and sand, rotting wood, tree bases and trunks, mossy or bare rocks.; Notes: It is characterized by punctiform pseudocyphellae on upper surface, perforate apothecia with large, ellipsoid spores, and bifusiform conidia. 

Sources and Credits

1. (c) CALS, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), uploaded by CALS
2. Adapted by CALS from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cladonia
3. (c) Lichen Unlimited: Arizona State University, Tempe., some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/10547308

More Info

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