ASCOMYCOTA | LECANOROMYCETES > LECANORALES > Cladoniaceae

Common name:            Green Turfy Lichen (not in frequent use)       

Synonyms:                    -

Habitat:                          Woodland, Heathland (sheltered banks)

Substrata:                      Earth banks, stumps, mossy tree trunks

Growth forms:              Primarily terricolous            

Basal thallus:                  Squamulose

Secondary thallus:        Podetia-like stalks, tiny, often absent

Apothecia:                    Lecideine, inconspicuous, brown

BLS identity rating:        Graded 2/5 (visual identification relatively easy with care)

Basal thallus dominant forming dense spreading cushions; squamules typically around 2-7mm long and up to 3mm wide, margins crenulate and irregularly incised, more or less erect, usually dense and well-developed; grey-greenish to brownish- green upper surface with a whitish underside.

Often sterile; but small pale brown to reddish-brown, rounded apothecia may be present growing directly from the upperside of the squamules, either sessile or on short podetia-like tiny pale, almost translucent stalks; pycnidia brown-black, scattered on the upper surface.

Cladonia caespitica grows on earth banks rich in wooden debris, or on stumps or mossy tree trunk bases; more likely to be found in mature woodland than on heathland, but occasionally in shaded locations especially along hollow ways or in the transitional zone between the heath and adjacent woodland where there are often sheltered banks.

Closely resembles Cladonia parasitica in respect of general appearance, except that species is predominantly lignicolous, growing on decaying wood rather than on earth banks; it also has similar crowded squamules, but these have coralloid- sorediate granules at the margins and, if present, more conspicuous upstanding podetia.