I find lichen identification extremely difficult and if anyone has any tips I would love to hear them. However, there is one lichen anyone can identify. All you have to do is walk out on to one the Dorset heaths and look amongst the heather and in no time at all you will find 'reindeer lichen'.
Whilst there are various similar species of 'reindeer lichen' there is only one found here. The others are confined to the Arctic tundra and is a favourite food of ... reindeer, of course!
Not much look at at first glance but get down close, add a bit of magnification and you have this wondrous mass of intricate 'branchlets' that spread out in all directions to make delicate, fluffy, tufted mats.
In some books this can be listed as Cladonia impexa as some lichens are being reclassified after DNA analysis reveals more about them and their relationship to other lichens.
Whilst there are various similar species of 'reindeer lichen' there is only one found here. The others are confined to the Arctic tundra and is a favourite food of ... reindeer, of course!
Not much look at at first glance but get down close, add a bit of magnification and you have this wondrous mass of intricate 'branchlets' that spread out in all directions to make delicate, fluffy, tufted mats.
In some books this can be listed as Cladonia impexa as some lichens are being reclassified after DNA analysis reveals more about them and their relationship to other lichens.
Great! This is an art of nature.. It's good that you find one..
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