Description: A rather large and conspicuous grey to olive green lichen of dry stone walls and rock outcrops, and of sour lowland and upland soils, this common species shares with C. rangiformis the neat, spiky, tufted cushions that given the opportunity, can carpet the ground in clumps. In C. furcata the surface of the stems carry a crazed mosaic of lines, like old cracked porcelain, but never clusters of green algae. The branching tips too are quite different. In C. furcata, these are narrow-spaced and compacted, never branching in wider, open angles as in C. rangiformis.

Key Identification Features:

• Stems (podetia) with a pale mosaic of lines, but never with colonies of green algae attached to the surface
• Stem tips, tightly bunched, never flared or opening wide like the branching pattern of a wayside tree.

Original text submitted by Vince J. Giavarini

Distribution Map from NBN: Cladonia furcata at National Biodiversity Network mapping facility, data for UK.

iNaturalist: Cladonia furcata at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.