Appearance
The species is a preferred food source of reindeer and caribou during the winter months, and it has an important role in regulating nutrient cycling and soil microbiological communities. Like many other lichens, "Cladonia stellaris" is used by humans directly for its chemical properties, as many of the secondary metabolites are antimicrobial, but it also has the unique distinction of being harvested and sold as 'fake trees' for model train displays. It is also used as a sound absorber in interior design. The fungal portion of "Cladonia stellaris", known as a mycobiont, protects the lichen from lichenivores, superfluous solar radiation, and other kinds of stressors in their ecosystem."Cladonia stellaris" is described as mat-forming and fruticose in appearance, and as terrestrial, terricolous, or epigeic, because it grows on the surface of bare soil or gravel. Like most other lichens, "Cladonia stellaris" grows slowly, averaging less than 0.5 cm per year under good conditions.
This species differs from the similar "Cladonia rangiferina" and "Cladonia arbuscula" in that it forms much more distinct cushion-shaped patches, and appears to have denser branching when viewed from above.
After an online vote sponsored by the Canadian Museum of Nature, the star-tipped cup lichen was unofficially crowned Canada’s national lichen.
References:
Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.
