Plant Guide > Mosses and Lichens > Lichens > Genus Cladonia

Genus Cladonia

Genus CLADONIA, Hoffm.

The horizontal thallus of the Genus Cladonia is scale-like, rarely granulose; and may or may not persist.

The fruiting branches ( podetia) are hollow, sometimes opening to the exterior; leathery, cup-shaped, or funnel-shaped; sometimes shrub-like,and very much branched; rarely club-shaped.

The fruiting organs (apothecia) are usually little heads (cephaloid) hollow within, they are variously coloured, but never black. The spores are ovoid-oblong; simple; colourless.

The generic name Cladonia from the Greek; a branch, was given by Georg Franz Hoffman to describe the characteristic habit of growth.

Brown Fruited Cup Cladonia Lichen
Fringed Cladonia Lichen
Red Fruited Cup Cladonia Lichen
Reindeer Lichen
Scarlet Crested Cladonia Lichen