tiny gardens

[sweet rocket]

1 I need some help to identify what looks like a small scale cladonia with tiny red pycnidia to the right of the tiny fungus.


2 Lovely flourish on top of a fence post. Can't find anything similar on lichen internet sites.



3 Detail of 2 Are those isidia along the edges?


Any help from out out there would be much appreciated

[fairplay]

Must admit I do not know the technical terms for different parts of lichens, but the Cladonia sp. present with the red bits around the rim seems to be C.pleurota.
Another possibility is C.deformis, but this is not included in the Checklist of Lichens of GB and Ireland by Coppins 2002, so probably safe to rule this out.

Neil.

P.S. That's a smashing photo by the way, so much going on there.

EDIT: Just spotted Cladonia deformis is included in the excluded list as a probable error, but who knows, it could be accepted by now.

[poschiavanus]

The second looks like Pseudevernia furfuracea, with a dark underside to the thallus.

[sweet rocket]

Originally Posted by fairplay

Must admit I do not know the technical terms for different parts of lichens, but the Cladonia sp. present with the red bits around the rim seems to be C.pleurota.
Another possibility is C.deformis, but this is not included in the Checklist of Lichens of GB and Ireland by Coppins 2002, so probably safe to rule this out.

Neil.

P.S. That's a smashing photo by the way, so much going on there.

EDIT: Just spotted Cladonia deformis is included in the excluded list as a probable error, but who knows, it could be accepted by now.

Thanks very much for taking the time to look and your comments are very welcome. I find the variety in the photo intriguing. The fungi here in the highlands seem less plentiful/obvious recently. However, while looking for these, I found there is the world of lichens to explore I'll have to drop a hint for a reference book for Christmas.....

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by sweet rocket

However, while looking for these, I found there is the world of lichens to explore.

Culbin Forest is a special place for lichens. Saw lots of them when I was there, but I'm not greatly interested in them.

Jim

[sweet rocket]

Originally Posted by poschiavanus

The second looks like Pseudevernia furfuracea, with a dark underside to the thallus.

Thanks a lot for your reponse. It looks as though you're right from the illustrations on the internet
I googled pseudevernia furfuracea and discovered all sorts of interesting uses, e.g. in the perfume industry in Grasse and, measuring the presence of radioactive isotopes in places like Finland, following incidents such as the Chernobyl disaster.

[sweet rocket]

Originally Posted by Jim Ford

Culbin Forest is a special place for lichens. Saw lots of them when I was there, but I'm not greatly interested in them.

Jim

Thanks for the advice Jim. I shall have to have a look if I'm down there.
I took the population of lichens for granted for a long time and really didn't look closely at them.
I became interested moths and butterflies and noticed the fungi while looking for caterpillars, and, while looking for them, I got drawn to fungi and then lichens ...
When things get a bit bleak and bare, there are still the lichens. Some of the structures are just so surprising and we are spoilt for choice here.

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by sweet rocket

Thanks for the advice Jim.

There's a lot on the web about Culbin's lichens (I've just had a look!). Culbin's also a good place if you specialise in clegs!

Jim

[sweet rocket]

Originally Posted by Jim Ford

There's a lot on the web about Culbin's lichens (I've just had a look!). Culbin's also a good place if you specialise in clegs!

Jim

I think I'll pass on that. We have plenty clegs here. They are rivalled only by Birch flies and ticks.
"Positive side of clegs" is still a work in progress for me...I'm sure there must be one... No doubt someone on this website will put me straight.
I will however have a look at the Culbin website

[AlanS]

First, yes, photographs 2 and 3 are Pseudevernia furfuracea. No problem there.

I am afraid photograph 1 needs greater definition for identification of critical Cladonia species.

There are at least two Cladonia species in the photograph, in fact probably three as there are some squamules that look like C. polydactyla, but as it is not producing podetia (the sticking-up bits) I'll ignore it.

You have a simple, spike-like species, that as far as I can tell from the photograph is C. cornuta.

So now for the red-fruiting species. It is neither C. pleurota nor C. deformis, as it is producing squamules on the outside of the podetia, at least on the older material, and both C. deformis and C. pleurota are smoothly sorediate. In any case, while we have no information on locality, beyond the clue that the poster resides in the Scottish Highlands, I am going to assume that the site was not adjacent to an area of late snow lie high in the Cairngorms, which pretty much rules out C. pleurota. C. deformis is reinstated as a British species, known from one site near Braemar, but it is a tall, graceful species, quite unlike the short cups we see here.

So instead of considering extreme rarities, we might as well go with the common red-fruiting species that forms short, wide cups: Cladonia diversa.
I cannot be 100% certain, as there are a couple of related species in the Highlands that it just might be, and the photograph needs to be clearer to show the critical features, but on general appearance and strong balance of probability, I have very little doubt that it is C. diversa.

Alan