Cladonia is a genus of moss-like lichens in the family Cladoniaceae. They are the primary food source for reindeer/caribou. Cladonia species are of economic importance to reindeer-herders, such as the Sami in Scandinavia or the Nenets in Russia. Antibiotic compounds are extracted from some species to create antibiotic cream. The light green species Cladonia stellaris is used in flower decorations.
The Cladoniaceae are a family of lichen-forming fungi in the order Lecanorales. It is one of the largest families of lichen-forming fungi, with about 560 species distributed amongst 17 genera. The reindeer moss and cup lichens (Cladonia) belong to this family. The latter genus, which comprises about 500 species, forms a major part of the diet of large mammals in taiga and tundra ecosystems. Many Cladoniaceae lichens grow on soil, but others can use decaying wood, tree trunks, and, in a few instances, rocks as their substrate. They grow in places with high humidity, and cannot tolerate aridity.
Cladia is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Cladoniaceae. Cladia species have a crustose or squamulose (scaly) primary thallus and a fruticose, secondary thallus, often referred to as pseudopodetium. The type species of the genus, Cladia aggregata, is widely distributed, occurring in South America, South Africa, Australasia and South-East Asia to southern Japan and India. Most of the other species are found in the Southern Hemisphere.
Carassea is a genus of lichenized fungi in the family Cladoniaceae. The genus was circumscribed in 2002 by Finnish lichenologist Soili Stenroos. A monotypic genus, Carassea contains the single species Carassea connexa. This species, originally named Cladonia connexa, was first documented by Edvard August Wainio, who collected specimens from Minas Gerais, Brazil, in 1885, and published a description of the species in the first of his three-volume Monographia Cladoniarum universalis. The Cladoniaceae genera most closely related to Carassea include Pycnothelia and Metus.
Calathaspis is a lichen genus in the family Cladoniaceae. A monotypic genus, Calathapsis contains the single species Calathaspis devexa, which is found in Papua New Guinea in middle- and high-altitude forests at altitudes ranging from 2,000–4,000 metres (6,600–13,100 ft). The genus name, which combines the Greek κάλαθος and κάλαθος ("shield"), refers to the shape of the apothecia. The species epithet devexa, from the Latin devexus, refers to the arrangement of the thalline laciniae.
Allocetraria is a genus of lichenized fungi in the family Parmeliaceae. It consists of 12 species, with a center of distribution in China.
Coelopogon is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Parmeliaceae. The genus contains two species found in southern South America and South Africa.
Teuvo ("Ted") Tapio Ahti is a Finnish botanist and lichenologist. He has had a long career at the University of Helsinki that started in 1963, and then following his retirement in 1997, at the Botanical Museum of the Finnish Museum of Natural History. Known as a specialist of the lichen family Cladoniaceae, Ahti has published more than 280 scientific publications. A Festschrift was dedicated to him in 1994, and in 2000 he was awarded the prestigious Acharius Medal for lifetime contributions to lichenology.
Cladonia wainioi or the Wainio's cup lichen is a species of cup lichen found in boreal and arctic regions of the Russian Far East and northern North America.
Cladonia subradiata is a widely distributed species of fruticose lichen in the family Cladoniaceae. It is found in Asia, Africa, Melanesia, Australia, New Zealand, and South, Central, and North America.
Rexiella is a lichen genus in the family Cladoniaceae. The genus, originally circumscribed with the name Rexia by authors Soili Stenroos, Raquel Pino-Bodas, and Teuvo Ahti in 2018, was created to contain the species Cladonia sullivanii, first formally described in 1882 by Swiss botanist Johannes Müller Argoviensis. After publication of the new genus, it was discovered that the name was illegitimate, because an earlier homonym had been published; the generic name RexiaD.A.Casamatta, S.R.Gomez & J.R.Johansen had already been created in 2006 to contain the cyanobacterial species Rexia erecta. The new name Rexiella was therefore proposed in 2019. This name honours the Australian lichenologist Rex Filson, who published monographs on the genera Cladia and Heterodea.
Melanohalea zopheroa is a species of lichen in the family Parmeliaceae. It was first formally described in 1977 by Ted Esslinger as Parmelia zopheroa. A year later, he transferred it to the new genus Melanelia, which he created to contain the brown Parmeliae species. In 2004, after early molecular phylogenetic evidence showed that Melanelia was not monophyletic, Melanohalea was circumscribed by lichenologists Oscar Blanco, Ana Crespo, Pradeep K. Divakar, Esslinger, David L. Hawksworth and H. Thorsten Lumbsch, and M. zopheroa was transferred to it. The lichen has a disjunct distribution, as it is found in South America (Chile) and in New Zealand.
Cladonia boryi, also commonly known as fishnet cladonia or fishnet lichen, is a species of lichen. It is distinctive in the genus Cladonia because the stalks (podetia) are very wide, seemingly hollow, and often perforated, hence the colloquial name - the fishnet lichen. It is also known as Bory's cup lichen.
Cladonia camerunensis is a species of lichen in the family Cladoniaceae. Found in Cameroon, it was formally described as a new species in 2016 by lichenologists Teuvo Ahti and Adam Flakus. The type specimen was collected on Minloua Mountain, west of Yaoundé, at an altitude of 780 m (2,560 ft). Here the lichen was found growing among plant debris over rock in open areas. The species is only known to occur in two locations on Minloua Mountain, which is a tropical inselberg. Secondary chemicals that are found in the lichen include barbatic acid and didymic acid.
Pulchrocladia corallaizon is a species of lichen in the family Cladoniaceae. It was first formally described as Cladia corallaizon. The specific epithet corallaizon, modified from Greek, means "ever-living coral". In 2018, it was transferred to the newly circumscribed genus Pulchrocladia.
Cladonia vescula is a species of fruticose lichen in the family Cladoniaceae. It is known for its small size and unique chemical composition. It can be found in the montane cloud forests and pre-Andean Amazonian forests of Bolivia and Peru, where it grows on mineral soil mixed with humus. This species closely resembles Cladonia peziziformis and Cladonia corymbosula in morphology, but it is more slender and almost entirely lacking a cortex.
Rusavskia is a genus of lichen-forming fungi in the family Teloschistaceae. It has 12 species. It is a member of the subfamily Xanthorioideae. The thallus of Rusavskia is characterized by its foliose (leaf-like) structure with distinct and typically narrow lobes that curve outwards.
Cladonia glacialis is a species of fruticose lichen in the family Cladoniaceae. Found in Iceland, it was described as a new species in 2009 by Hördur Kristinsson and Teuvo Ahti. The first author collected the type specimen in 1979 from Arnarfellsmúlar at an elevation of 600 m (2,000 ft). This type locality is on the southeast side of Múlajökull, which is an outlet glacier of the Hofsjökull ice cap. Cladonia glacialis is only known to occur at the type locality. It contains fumarprotocetraric acid as its major lichen product. The authors suggest that the species belongs to the "supergroup" Cladonia, and that it may be closely related to Cladonia phyllophora.
Honeggeria is a single-species fungal genus in the family Teloschistaceae. It contains the species Honeggeria rosmarieae, a corticolous (bark-dwelling), foliose lichen found in the United States. Characteristic features of the lichen include its isidia-like soredia, rhizines that are relatively broad and short, slender ascospores, and a rudimentary true exciple with a textura intricata tissue structure.
Cladonia krogiana is a species of fruticose lichen in the family Cladoniaceae, described to science in 2002. This lichen is characterised by its greyish-green to medium-brown squamulose (scaly) primary thallus, forming cushions up to 10 cm (4 in) wide, with distinctive chemical components including barbatic acid and the rare xanthone compound chlorovinetorin. Originally discovered in southeastern Norway, C. krogiana has since been found in the Czech Republic and New Brunswick, Canada, typically growing on sun-exposed siliceous rock in periodically wet, open areas near forests and water bodies.
