Pixie Cups

There is one group of lichens that is easy to spot. They are like miniature forests. The "trees" can take different shapes, the most obvious being a tiny goblet or "pixie cup."

Beneath the "trees" is a layer of tiny leaves (called squamules) like the grass in a forest.

This group all go by the name Cladonia and they come in many forms. As well as the cup shape, they can be thick and stumpy:

or pointy:

or tubular (these remind me of some sort of sea creature):

or have "fingers"

The one with "fingers" is Cladonia polydactyla  (polydactyla = many fingers) but I needed an expert to confirm that identification as the group called Cladonia are not easy to ID with certainty.

Some of them have blobs (called apothecia) on the ends, red in these pictures, which produce spores to spread the lichen.  The green powdery appearance on the "trunk" (fairy dust!) is another way it spreads itself.

Cladonia grow on bark, moss, and rotting wood so you can see some in Newtonmore without going far. Check out the fence on the path between the Main Street and Craig Dhu Road, opposite Curley's lane.

Happy Hunting!