Hollie

If the weather isn’t too rainy and cold today I might get to go say hello to my favorite arboretum. I’d like to try and find some pixie cup #lichen.

Hey #lichensubscribe friends can anyone shed light on why there are Pixie Cups but also apparently False Pixie Cups? But they both seem to be Cladonia - i.e. what makes the false false if they’re in the same genus? (Sorry if that’s an obvious question.) I’m a bit confused and there still isn’t a vast quantity of lichen knowledge on Google. :)

Dec 29, 2022 at 5:38pmWeb
Show threadEmma BeeDec 29, 2022
@hollie dunno but @botanygeek might know 😉 #pixiecups #lichen
Show threadelias105Dec 29, 2022
@hollie There is about 200 species of Cladonia and each one has a unique scientific name and that's all that botanists use (something like Cladonia fimbriata). The common name for many of them is something with "pixie cup lichen" like "smooth pixie cup lichen" or "branched pixie cup lichen" or "false pixie cup lichen" etc. but there isn't really any meaning behind those. Some also have names like "Dragon horn" or "British soldier lichen": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cladonia
Cladonia - Wikipedia

Show threadHollieDec 29, 2022

@elias I should have pinged you directly! :) Thank you for the explanation! That makes sense. So just another common name, but it’s still Cladonia.

(I think it’s funny I was trying to do this complex Google deep dive and you’re like “why hello here’s a Wiki page”)