Small World Discoveries
by Tony Enticknap - tickspics
Taking a close look at insects and other small species that can be found in and around East Dorset and the New Forest ...
ASCOMYCOTA | LECANOROMYCETES > LECANORALES > Cladoniaceae
Â
Common name:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Mealy Pixie-cup
Synonyms:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â -
Habitat:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Heathland (see text), acid grassland, open woodland
Substrata:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Soil, mossy banks, rotting stumps
Growth forms:             Terricolous, lignicolous                              Â
Basal thallus: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Squamulose
Secondary thallus:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Podetia, 'goblet-shaped' cups
Apothecia:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Lecideine, brown fruits
BLS identity rating: Graded 4/5 (see note - cannot be identified from photos)
Â
Basal squamules small, broad, erect and usually incised; dull grey-green upperside with a white under surface, which darkens towards the base; persistent or disappearing.
Podetia greenish to grey-greenish, sometimes slightly browned, with any exposed medulla being white; variable, but typically, from 15-30mm tall, although occasionally up to 40mm; mostly stout, but sometimes rather slender; flaring gradually into 'goblet-shaped' cups, which are usually around 3-6mm dia., but possibly as wide as 10mm; scyphi mostly regular and indented, but occasionally proliferating from the margins; both the outer surface and the interior of the cups are covered in small granular soredia; outer surface can be corticate.
Apothecia infrequent but, where present, brown and relatively large, sessile or raised on short stalks at the cup margins; pycnidia more likely, also brown, but tiny, often visible around the margin.
It should be noted that Cladonia chlorophaea is part of a morpho-complex unless properly examined (spot testing, UV and TLC - thin layer chromatology) and, consequently, is rarely recorded in the strict sense. Cladonia chlorophaea s.lat is discussed on the following page, but it's useful to note here that these species tend to occupy less acidic habitats than the various forms that are now collectively grouped within the Cladonia grayi complex. In fact, on most heathland, Cladonia chlorophaea is effectively replaced by Cladonia grayi, with that species being broadly distinguished by its darker, brownish in parts, colour with pink-brown tinged medulla.
Cladonia chlorophaea is very similar to Cladonia cryptochlorophaea, which is now considered to be the most frequent 'pixie- cup' species with brown fruits, and probably the most likely form to be found on acid humous, peat, rotting wood or indeed bark at the base of trees; except that the podetia and scyphi of that species are covered with denser, smaller farinose, rather than granulose, soredia. It may also be confused with Cladonia fimbriata, but that species typically has a more slender podetia with a stalk that abruptly widens to a 'wineglass-shaped' cup, and an entirely fine farinose-sorediate surface.
Although Cladonia chlorophaea s.str has been recorded on my local heath, the specimens featured below cannot be taken as confirmed representatives of the species.
Holt Heath, Mannington, East Dorset
[Cladonia cf.chlorophaea]
Holt Heath, Mannington, East Dorset
[Cladonia cf.chlorophaea]
Holt Heath, Mannington, East Dorset
(tiny brown pycnida clearly visible around the cup margins)
Holt Heath, Mannington, East Dorset
[Cladonia cf.chlorophaea]
Holt Heath, Mannington, East Dorset
[Cladonia cf.chlorophaea]
Holt Heath, Mannington, East Dorset
(tiny brown pycnida clearly visible around the cup margins)