Cladonia macilenta
Lipstick Cladonia
CLADONIACEAE, The Cladonia family
This lichen is really similar to a Cladonia species in the Midwest called British Soldiers (C. cristatella). Lichens are a symbiosis between fungi and algae. Fungi, neither the mushroom type or the molds and mildews, cannot photosynthesis like plants can. But by giving shelter to the algae, they are provided with nutrients. There are over a thousand kinds of lichen in the Northwest. For identification purposes, they can be divided into three groups according to their growth habit: Crustose (Dust, Crust and Scale forms), Foliose (Leafy forms) and Fruitcose (Club, Shrub and Hair shapes).
Cladonia is a club form lichen. It’s kind of powdery, greenish-grey with a bright red fruiting (spore producing) apothecia on the tip of the club. It grows in little colonies on the ground or on tree bark at low elevations, often among mosses. I’m still thinking of the weekend in Quinalt and the amazing diversity there.
I found this nice explanation of Lichens on naturalist Jim Conrad’s site. He also posted a story about learning about British Soldiers when he was a kid. I read a few of his essays and found them interesting and thoughtful.
Knowing the names of things is like that: The name gives you a mental pigeonhole. Then, into that pigeonhole, during the entire course of your life, you can insert all kinds of information, memories and associations.
-Jim Conrad
