Kingdom Fungi Order Lecanorales Genus Cladonia Higher classification Cladonia | Division Ascomycota Family Cladoniaceae Scientific name Cladonia portentosa Rank Species | |
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Similar Cladonia, Cladonia ciliata, Cladonia arbuscula, Cladonia subulata, Cladonia furcata | ||
Cladonia portentosa, also known as reindeer lichen, is a light-coloured, fruticose lichen belonging to the family Cladoniaceae.
Contents
A similar-looking species also known by the common name reindeer lichen is Cladonia rangiferina.
Description
Cladonia portentosa forms compact interwoven mats up to 6 cm tall. It is richly branched, each branch usually dividing into three but with the penultimate sometimes dividing into two. The branching is at a larger angle than that of Cladonia rangiferina.
Illustrations
Gilbert, O. 2004.
References
Cladonia portentosa Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA