ASCOMYCOTA | LECANOROMYCETES > LECANORALES > Cladoniaceae

Genus Cladonia, meaning 'branch or twig-like'

Common name:            Scarlet cup-lichen or Red-fruited Pixie-cup

Synonym:                    -

Habitat:                          Montane, uplands

Substrata:                      Soil, moss, rotting deadwood          

Growth forms:              Terricolous, muscicolous, lignicolous                      

Basal thallus:                  Squamulose

Secondary thallus:        Podetia, broad cupped

Apothecia:                    Lecideine, persistently red

BLS identity rating: s.lat., graded 1/5 (identification should be straightforward)

                                      s.str., graded 4/5 (can only be confirmed with TLC)

Basal squamules variable; up to 2mm dia., rounded and sparingly indented; upper surface yellow-green, lower surface often yellowish to orange-brown.

Podetia yellow-grey to yellow-green; stout and often deformed; up to 35mm tall; covered in conspicuous coarse corticate granules; cups broad, usually regular and only rarely proliferating from the margins.

Apothecia or pycnidia present or at least frequent; apothecia bright red, around the margin, but becoming confluent, often spilling over and covering the whole of the cup; pycnidia black or reddish, containing red gel.

In Britain, Cladonia coccifera is an aggregate species, grouped together with C.borealis, C.deformis, C.diversa, C.pleurota and C.straminea. Here, the nominate described form Cladonia coccifera s.str. is mainly restricted to upland heath and a handful of species-rich lowland heaths. The more common species from the group is Cladonia diversa.

In the Austrian alps, where this particular photo was taken, Cladonia coccifera is regarded as a "widespread cool-temperate to arctic-alpine species, occurring in the montane belt up to the lower limit of perennial snow." In this habitat, it is typically found growing on acidic soil, living mosses or plant debris, rather than on rotting wood.