fruity lichen id?

[sweet rocket]

Any help naming this? I found it in pine needle debris in october.
I'm new to lichens/mosses There are so many here in the Scottish Highlands I don't know where to start. Are there good books out there for beginners?

[diggleken]

Hi sw, it needs to be a little clearer, but its a Cladonia, possibly fimbriata.
This may help,
Cladonia chlorophaea agg. (images of British lichens)
And JennyS's irish site is fab too.
Frank Dobson's book is expensive at £33, but needed if you are keen..............
Cheers
Ken

[poschiavanus]

Originally Posted by sweet rocket

Any help naming this? I found it in pine needle debris in october.
I'm new to lichens/mosses There are so many here in the Scottish Highlands I don't know where to start. Are there good books out there for beginners?

Agreed Cladonia, but there are at least two species here: the ones in the centre foreground with tapering tubular podetia and the ones to the right with trumpet-shaped podetia ('fairy cups'). Cladonia is one of the more difficult groups of lichens (at least I find it so), and in the Highlands you are really spoilt for choice, with many species not seen elsewhere in Britain.

For starter material for lichens the FSC do a number of inexpensive fold out sheets: Lichens on Twigs, Churchyard Lichens etc. These are good but the photos could be larger, although as diggleken has said there is some excellent material on the web.

After that it's really Dobson's book, although there is a new relatively inexpensive book of photographs of Irish Lichens which might be of interest (disclosure, I know the author). There is also an JNCC Field Guide for Cladonia which is not too expensive.

[sweet rocket]

Thanks for that Ken.

[sweet rocket]

Originally Posted by diggleken

Hi sw, it needs to be a little clearer, but its a Cladonia, possibly fimbriata.
This may help,
Cladonia chlorophaea agg. (images of British lichens)
And JennyS's irish site is fab too.
Frank Dobson's book is expensive at £33, but needed if you are keen..............
Cheers
Ken

Thanks a lot
The "lastdragon" lichen site is great (I need a better lens for my camera!)I'm just about to check out the Irish site now.

[AlanS]

Originally Posted by sweet rocket

Thanks a lot
The "lastdragon" lichen site is great (I need a better lens for my camera!)I'm just about to check out the Irish site now.

Thanks for the comment on my lastdragon site. I am currently working on a facelift for the species pages, which should be loaded by the end of the month. Still lots of species to add, including several more Cladonias. Also, no promises, but contemplating a separate guide to Cladonia sometime.

Anyhow, welcome to the world of lichens, and indeed welcome to the world of several Cladonia species growing intermixed and not showing their features very well.

You definitely have some C. squamosa in the centre fore-ground, a very variable species, and in, front left, some C. polydactyla. To the far left and a bit out of focus you have what seems to be C. digitata - if so a nice find - it seems to be rarer than the books suggest and is one I am still waiting to photograph.

Pretty much in the centre you have some very well-formed, smooth cups with red dots (pycnidia) on the margins and this may be the most interesting lichen in the photo. As the pycnidia are red, it will be red-fruited and we can rule out the usual suspects such as C. fimbriata or C. chlorophaea, and they are too well-formed for C. polydactyla I think. Probably they are C. diversa, a common species - this is more yellow-green but digital cameras commonly don't record the colour properly and it comes out too grey. Realistically, this is what it is, but bearing in mind you are in the Highlands, and comparing it with my photographs, I am wondering if it is C. borealis. It looks rather like it, but we need a closer, clearer view. Like C. diversa, it is part of the C. coccifera complex. C. borealis is in the queue to be added to my site, but not sure when I will get to it.

Alan

[sweet rocket]

Thanks for such a detailed reponse. I find lichen intriguing so I'm now on the lookout! I need to be more methodical--- add notes to photo files while the walk's still fresh in my head, keep a diary of locations etc. I'm trying to remember which fallen tree.....so I can revisit the spot.