Some notes on Cladonia

Relative to observations: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/20874920; https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/20532945

Memo: look at underside of squamules next time

Cladonia pyxidata
Description below from CNALH, which by the way lists at least 30 forms and ssp (I stopped counting at "m").
Primary thallus: squamulose, persistent; squamules: 2-5 mm long, 1-3 mm wide, entire or irregularly crenate-lobate; lobes: mostly ascending, lower side brownish white; medulla: fairly thin podetia: 3-20 mm tall, greenish gray to brown, cup-bearing; cups: 8-12 mm wide, usually simple; margins: entire or with short proliferations surface: corticate or ecorticate, dull, cortex verruculose, breaking into granules or giving rise to isidioid, schizidioid or phyllidioid structures (also occurring in the cup interiors, appearing as appressed squamules) Apothecia: common, up to 8 mm wide, on c. 3 mm long stalks on cup margins, reddish brown to darker

Habitat and ecology: on soil, especially acidic mineral soil and thin soil over rocks, more rarely over wood, mainly arctic to temperate World distribution: on all continents
Cladonia pyxidata is comparable to C. pocillum, but its primary squamules are thinner, more ascending and almost dull, and the lower side is not clearly pure white. The almost stalkless cup of C. pyxidata, which widens gradually from the base, is a diagnostic character. The peltate squamules in the cup interiors of C. pyxidata may also occur in mature specimens of C. chlorophaea, C. dimorpha, C. hammeri and C. pulvinella. However, they are characteristic even in young specimens of C. pyxidata. See also the discussion under C. chlorophaea.

Cladonia chlorophaea
Description below from: CNALH
Primary thallus: squamulose, persistent or disappearing; squamules: 3-6 mm long, 2-4 mm wide, irregularly crenate-lobate podetia: 2-15 (-45) mm tall, brownish green to gray, stout to more or less slender, cup-bearing; cups: 2-6 mm wide surface: ecorticate, granulose to sorediate, largely bare on old podetia; soredia: coarse, intergrading with granules and isidioid structures, sometimes forming podetial squamules

Habitat and ecology: on rotten wood, tree trunks, mineral soil or humus World distribution: all continents, mainly temperate to boreal
Notes: This species is very similar to C. pyxidata, and especially juvenile or senescent specimens can be impossible to identify with certainty. Some authors are inclined to unite C. chlorophaea and C. pyxidata, because it is difficult to make a clear-cut distinction between them, even though the presence or absence of soredia (actually granules) should distinguish the two.

Posted on March 2, 2019 02:26 PM by slwhiteco