Darmok wrote:
I've never looked up to see what the fungal partner in the pixie cup marriage actually is, but it must be some kind of lovely cup fungus like these (
Cookeina tricholoma):
The
Cladonia lichens do sort of branch at the base, so maybe the branched pixie cup just was a little delayed.
an autistic pixie cup!
that could be, though, i also found this image (and many others like it) of cladonia chlorophaea in which the second tiers look more integrated. so maybe its a common trait within the cladonia genus and can still be expressed in species which typically don't.
i can definitely see the cookeina--pixie cup connection you're making...but then how would it correspond to other cladonia members like deer moss and reindeer lichen?
where's a lichen specialist when you need one