Day 48: You can have your holly and your mistletoe. I'll take my Christmas colours in Cladonia bellidiflora. This showy fruticose lichen puts on a spectacular display of red apothecia, giving rise to its common and appropriately seasonal name of Toy Soldiers. A similar species (C. cristatella) is only found east of the Mississippi River and its common name of British Soldiers is frequently misapplied to C. bellidiflora. Closer examination of the podetia will reveal one easily observable difference: bellidiflora's "stems" are abundantly covered with pale green squamules (scales) whereas cristatella's podetia are finely granular.
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