ASCOMYCOTA | LECANOROMYCETES > LECANORALES > Cladoniaceae

Common name:             Slender Cup Lichen

Synonyms:                     -

Habitat:                           Heathland, upland moors, dunes

Substrata:                       Sandy and acid soils, more rarely on rotting wood

Growth forms:               Terricolous, lignicolous                   

Basal thallus:                  Squamulose

Secondary thallus:         Podetia, slender

Apothecia:                     Rare

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

Basal squamules small, indented, greyish-green upperside, scattered but rarely persisting.

Podetia generally around 30-70mm tall, typically growing in small clusters; slender, erect and mostly unbranched; surface smooth, corticate and finely areolate; younger growth pointed at the apices or, when mature, widening slightly, forming small, shallow and narrow scyphi, dentate at margin, having a variable number of 'teeth' from which new subulate, pointed extensions develop.

Apothecia rare but, if present, dark brown at apices; pycnidia more frequent.

Cladonia gracilis is a tall, elegant heathtail lichen, characterised by the clustered, slender, generally unbranched erect podetia, mostly bearing small, non-perforate cups.

Occurring on sandy or acid soils, on heaths, moorland and dunes, often amongst rocks; widespread and relatively common in upland and montane areas of the north, Wales and Scotland, rather than lowland heaths where it is far more localised requiring high-quality sites; mainly found growing on humous or mossy covered rocks, than directly on bare ground; also, but more rarely on rotting wood, possibly in some woodland areas.

It has been recorded from a number of short-grazed heath locations in the New Forest, including along the shaded banks of the hollow way at Rock Hills where the specimens featured here were photographed.