Interesting stuff: matchstick moss (British soldier lichen)
Posted by Tom Moertel Fri, 07 Jul 2006 20:39:00 GMT
Last week I was vacationing with the in-laws in upper Michigan. They live on Lake Huron in a wooded area. One of their neighbors pointed out an unusual growth on a nearby wooden fence: “matchstick moss,” he called it.
Intrigued, I grabbed my camera and tripod and took some pictures.
Man, are these things weird. And tiny. For scale, that’s a woman’s wedding band in the pictures below.
Some recent Googling revealed that matchstick moss not moss at all but rather lichen, in particular “British soldier lichen”, Cladonia cristatella.
Here’s some more information on the fascinating little guys:
- Lichen image gallery: Cladonia cristatella
- Tom Volk’s Fungus of the Month for July 2002: Cladonia cristatella
- Lichens from Backyard Nature
Now that’s interesting stuff!
readers
I found some of that in my Missouri woods in January.