Description: This is the classic ‘Reindeer lichen’, with a rich-branching, pale grey, purple-tipped thallus. A good feature in identification is the thin, cottony webbing that surrounds the stems. Another is the one-directional orientation of the branch tips (clustered into four or three end-points). The thallus is K+ yellow. Exposed high, lichen-heath or cliff edges. Scattered across upland Ireland, except in the south.

Key Identification Features:

• High, upland reindeer lichen (sometimes occurring lower), richly branching, purple-tipped
• Stems webbed, cottony, ending in thick branch tips, all leaning to one side; the K+ yellow reaction separates it from C. arbuscula (described elsewhere) which is K negative.

Original text submitted by Vince J. Giavarini

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

iNaturalist: Cladonia rangiferina at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.