Felt Horn Lichen

(Cladonia phyllophora)

Conservation Status
Felt Horn Lichen
Photo by Luciearl
  IUCN Red List

not listed

 
  NatureServe

NNR - Unranked

 
  Minnesota

not listed

 
           
           
           
           
 
Description
 
 

Felt Horn Lichen is a widespread, common, shrubby (fruticose) lichen. It occurs around the globe in the northern latitudes. In Minnesota it is common in the northern third of the state, rare to absent elsewhere. It grows on the ground in full sun or partial shade.

Felt Horn Lichen produces two types of vegetative growth (thallus). The primary thallus is a leaf-like scale (squamule) that lies on the soil. The squamules are 1 16 to (2 to 15 mm) long and 1 16 to (2 to 4 mm) wide. They may be scattered, clustered, or dense and overlapping. The margins have many ascending lobes. The upper surface is lime green, olive green, or grayish-green, and smooth, not covered with granules (soredia). The lower surface is white. The squamules often disappear as the secondary thallus grows.

The secondary thallus is a vertical, usually unbranched, 5 16 to 3 (8 to 80 mm) tall, 1 32 to (1 to 4 mm) thick stalk (podetium) that rises from the center of a squamule. It is lime green, olive green, or grayish-green. It may be all one color but is often mottled or spotted. +The layer of protective tissue (cortex) is split longitudinally. Many of the stalks broaden gradually at the tip into a cup. The cup is weakly or strongly convex and is wavy or lobed on the margins. It is shaped like a trumpet (horn) and has a puffy, soft (felty) surface, features that gives this lichen its common name.

Abundant brown, 1 32 to 1 16 (1 to 2 mm) in diameter reproductive structures (apothecia) appear on the margins of the cups and at the tips of branches that do not produce cups.

 
     
 

Similar Species

 
 

Trumpet Lichen (Cladonia fimbriata) is smaller. The squamules are no more than ¼ (6 mm) long, and they are persistent, remaining as the secondary thallus matures. The podetia are no more than 1316 (30 mm) tall. The cups are deeply convex. Apothecia are uncommon.

 
     
 
Ecology
 
 

Substrate

 
 

Ground

 
     
 

Growth Form

 
 

Fruticose

 
     
 

Habitat

 
 

 

 
     
 

Hosts

 
 

 

 
     
 
Distribution
 
 

Distribution Map

 

Sources

4, 24, 26, 29, 30, 77, 81.

 
  8/24/2019      
         
 

Occurrence

 
 

Widespread and common

 
         
 
Taxonomy
 
  Kingdom Fungi (fungi including lichens)  
  Subkingdom Dikarya  
  Phylum Ascomycota (sac fungi)  
  Subphylum Pezizomycotina  
  Class Lecanoromycetes (common lichens)  
  Subclass Lecanoromycetidae (shield lichens, sunburst lichens, rosette lichens, and allies)  
 

Order

Lecanorales (shield lichens, rim lichens, and allies)  
 

Suborder

Lecanorineae  
 

Family

Cladoniaceae (spindles and structured lichens)  
 

Genus

Cladonia (pixie cup lichens)  
  Mycobiont Cladonia phyllophora  
  Photobiont    
       
 

Synonyms

 
 

Capitularia degenerans

Cladonia degenerans

 
       
 

Common Names

 
 

Felt Horn Lichen

Felt Lichen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary

Apothecium

An open, disk-shaped or cup-shaped, reproductive structure, with spore sacs on the upper surface, that produces spores for the fungal partner of a lichen. Plural: apothecia.

 

Fruticose

Shrubby: referring to the growh form of lichens that may be tufted, draped, or stalked.

 

Podetium

The hollow stalk of the fruiting body of lichens in the genus Cladonia. Plural: podetia.

 

Soredium

An asexual reproductive structure of a lichen in the form of a tiny dull granule on the thallus surface that can be easily brushed off. It consists of a cluster of algal cells (the photobiont) wrapped in fungal filaments (the mycobiont), but without an outer layer of protective tissue (cortex). Plural: soredia.

 

Squamules

On lichens: small, flat, often overlapping, leaf-like scales without a lower cortex. Adjective: squamulose

 

Thallus

The vegetative body of a lichen composed of both the alga and the fungus.

 
 
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Luciearl

 
    Felt Horn Lichen      
           
 
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  Luciearl
8/2/2019

Location: Cass County (Paul Bunyan Trail)

Felt Horn Lichen (Cladonia phyllophora)  
           
 
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Created: 8/24/2019

Last Updated:

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