Another Cladonia for ID Help

[Lancashire Lad]

Found on side and top of a decaying Beech stump.

I'm thinking both photo's show the same species. I'll probably be wrong again, but I'm currently thinking Cladonia polydactyla.



Regards
Mike.

[JennyS]

Hi Mike - did you consider Cladonia macilenta?

[Lancashire Lad]

Originally Posted by JennyS

Hi Mike - did you consider Cladonia macilenta?

Confusion reigns again

I thought it fit the description & photo's of C.polydactyla on British Lichens, & AlanS's sites, but it does look uncannily like the C.macilenta photo on your Irish Lichens site.

I must admit, having re-read the details, and looked again at the photo's for both species on page 131 of Dobson, I'm thinking you are more than likely correct with C.macilenta.

Regards
Mike.

[AlanS]

Yes, Cladonia macilenta and C. polydactyla can be very difficult to separate at this stage.

Because, at least in the first photograph, the podetia are somewhat expanded towards the tips, suggesting that they might develop into the cups that C. macilenta does not have, I would favour Mike's first suggestion of C. polydactyla.

But it is a very marginal decision.

C. macilenta is not up on my own site yet. It's in the pipeline, along with updates to my polydactyla page, but my accumulation of new species to add (even of new Cladonia spp.) is currently much exceeding my site updating, not to mention my still huge backlog from last year.

Mike, thanks for the details you sent of the other thing. With luck I'll be down there sometime next month.

Alan

[Lancashire Lad]

Originally Posted by AlanS

....Because, at least in the first photograph, the podetia are somewhat expanded towards the tips, suggesting that they might develop into the cups that C. macilenta does not have, I would favour Mike's first suggestion of C. polydactyla.....

Ah! - I remember now why I originally opted for C.polydactyla above C.macilenta.



In my second photo, just above the number 9 in the date, (somewhat out of focus), there is a stem with a definite cup. This was one of the identifiers which pointed me to C.polydactyla. Although I must admit, it might just have been a fortuitous coincidence, as it does look somewhat thinner than the other stems, and could well be an interloper of another species.

Regards
Mike.