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Cladonia verticillata (Hoffm.) Schaer.
Stout Ladder
Federal Protection: No US federal protection
State Protection: No Georgia state protection
Global Rank: G5
State Rank: SNR
Element Locations Tracked in Biotics: No
SWAP High Priority Species (SGCN): No
Element Occurrences (EOs) in Georgia: 0
Habitat Summary for element in Georgia: Rock outcrops, roadsides, montane woodlands
Gray-green to brown (depending on sun exposure) podetia 1-5 cm tall, corticate, made up of shallow cups ringed with brown pycnidia or apothecia & occasionally squamules (lower cups?), proliferating from their centers, both singly and in multiples of new cups, creating tiers of successive levels; primary thallus consisting of small squamules, disappearing; FIELD ID: distinctive morphology makes for easy ID, given lack of overlap with lookalike C. rappii
Cladonia rappii is the only similar species, but it is found in Coastal Plain sandhills & swamps; it is slenderer & daintier than C. verticillata, and has flatter bottoms to cups
None
Rock outcrops, roadsides, montane woodlands, on silicious rock, soil; 1 record from hardwood bark
Saxicolous/terricolous, squamulose/fruticose lichenized fungus, photobiont a chlorococcoid alga in genus Trebouxia or Pseudotrebouxia
None
Southern Blue Ridge & Cumberland Plateau; disjunct on Piedmont granitic outcrops
Unknown
Uncommon
None
Brodo, I. M. 2001. Lichens of North America. Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn.
Brodo, I. M. 2016. Keys to lichens of North America: revised and expanded. Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn.
Esslinger, T. L. 2021. A cumulative checklist for the lichen-forming, lichenicolous and allied fungi of the continental United States and Canada. Version 24. Opuscula Philolichenum 20: 100-394.
Malcolm Hodges
25 July 2022