Reindeer Lichen

Cladonia mitis

The lichen body, or thallus, is a composite structure of fungal and green algal cells. The primary reindeer lichen thallus is prostrate and squamulose (comprised of scaly, flaky, rounded pieces). The secondary thallus (podetium) is more conspicuous, being upright and fruticose. Fruticose forms are three-dimensional and have been described as shrubby and/or stringy. Podetia are hollow, highly branched, and capable of trapping wind-blown algae. They grow upward at the tip and die back at the base, similarly to sphagnum and other mosses. The spore-producing fungal bodies (apothecia) are produced at the tips of the podetia [55,84].
Close up of Cladonia mitis The photo was taken with the aid of a 64 LED lamp, a tripod and in camera focus stacking.   Canada,Cladonia mitis,Geotagged,Reindeer Lichen,Summer

Distribution

Cladonia mitis occurs in Alaska, Canada, and the northern fringe of the United States [18,83,115,125]. In western North America, C. mitis occurs as far south as the southern Willamette Valley [61,84], the northern Cascade Range [38], Idaho, western Montana, and Wyoming [83,84]. Cladonia mitis is uncommon in the Pacific Northwest and rare in the Southwest [84]. In eastern North America, C. mitis occurs in the northern Great Lakes region [64,131,141], New Jersey [115], southeastern New York [37], Labrador [49], Newfoundland [1], Quebec [48,89], and the boreal and arctic vegetation zones in Ontario [3].

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

http://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/126646-Cladonia-mitis
Taxonomy
KingdomFungi
DivisionAscomycota
ClassLecanoromycetes
OrderLecanorales
FamilyCladoniaceae
GenusCladonia
SpeciesCladonia mitis