Yet Another Cladonia for ID Help Please

[Lancashire Lad]

Found today, growing directly in soil of a rocky outcrop on ground. (Open sheep grazed moorland, Central Lancashire).

Not sure if the one towards right hand side with multiple cups growing on top of podetium is a separate species , and the almost horizontal one at the extreme right might be a third species.



Any help with ID much appreciated.

Regards,
Mike.

[ron1863]

I will have a go at Cladonia diversa Mike. I know they sometimes have red caps and yours look like they are reddening around the edges.

[JennyS]

Hi Mike,
Tentatively Cladonia chlorophaea, which can have marginal projections on the rims of the cups.
The one to the right is a different species, but that's an AlanS query!

Glad you're still peering at lichens,
Jenny

[Lancashire Lad]

Thanks Jenny. Yes I'm still looking at lichens, but as you see, not getting any better at ID'ing them.

Some of them just seem to demand having their photo taken though.

Regards,
Mike.

[AlanS]

Yes, as Jenny has suggested, the main species here is C. chlorophaea, including the podetium that is proliferating from the margins.

As I have said before, C. chlorophaea is regarded as an aggregate of several species (i would call them subspecies) that are weakly defined morphologically and can be identified with certainty only by chemistry. I would guess that this is C. chlorophaea in the strict sense, but I don't have enough experience of the group yet, even if identification from photographs could be reliable.

Yes, the almost horizontal one looks like it has truly red pycnidia, so it is something different. In my view, not enough here for anything more than a speculative guess, so I'll pass on the ID.

However, top right, out of focus in the background, and looking rather antler-like, you do look to have rather old C. furcata.

Alan

[Lancashire Lad]

Thanks once again Alan.

Regards,
Mik.