Cladonia Fimbriata

Day 12: The Cladonias are particularly difficult to differentiate, to the extent that experts will often disagree even as they're standing over the results of chemical testing and microscopic analysis. That said, I hope my readers will understand when I say that I am going out on a very long and wobbly limb to identify these specimens as Cladonia fimbriata based solely on their morphological features. Specifically, I refer to the powdery surface, limited number of squamules and shape/height. Had they been fruiting, I might have had another clue. Since the tests for lichen substances in Cladonia are not something I can do at home, I did not take a sample. While the term "Pixie Cups" is generally accepted as the common name of C. pyxidata, the generic uncapitalized form "pixie cups" can be used to refer to any golf-tee shaped Cladonia.

Cladonia Fimbriata, Trumpet Lichen

Day 168: First off, let me say that my identification of this species as Cladonia fimbriata is tentative and based solely on field characteristics. The Cladonias can be rather tricky, and when most show no reaction to the common C and K chemical tests, they cannot be differentiated in the kitchen laboratory. Narrow trumpets, powdery soredia, lack of podetial squamules and even cup margins would seem to classify it as fimbriata, but without anything to confirm my suspicions, I will not be adding this image to my photographic lichen database. That said, my three-mile lichen walk today yielded up two more instances of Pilophorus clavatus and one undeniable Mycoblastus sanguinareus, and therefore it qualifies as a successful excursion.

Tee Garden

Day 49: We all know that the game of golf originated in Scotland, right? And Scotland is very like the Pacific Northwest in climate, i.e., damp and rather grey. Although I don't know this for a fact, I would guess that it has an abundance of lichens, and surely among them you could find a number of representatives of the Cladonias. It's a whimsical thought to be sure, but imagine if you will a kilted clansman about to place his leathern ball on the green. His head turns. He's spotted a narrow stalk topped with a cup-shaped form of the exact size to hold the ball. History is made as our redoubtable Scot nestles his gamepiece into the bowl of a specimen of Cladonia fimbriata where it is held securely until he pelts it mightily with his blackthorn and sends it sailing into a gorse thicket, there to remain until the final days of Planet Earth.

I found the mother of all tee gardens on my Nisqually Land Trust beat today. I'd stopped by Ohop Valley to check on the trees we planted a few weeks ago and was delighted to see that a second crew had been in to place protective plastic sleeves around each one. A piece of rotten fence drew my attention, and when I looked up from the single specimen I had just photographed growing on its length, I noticed another rail, its sunward vertical side bearing hundreds of C. fimibriata podetia. I removed one single example to bring home in order to confirm my identification (inset shows the finely farinose soredia), and although it was spongy at the time I picked it, two hours later it had dried to the point that it felt wooden. It was still too flexible to be used as a golf tee but rigid enough to inspire speculation as to the origin of the device. Aye, an' 'tis not so unreasonable to think, eh?