Trumpet Lichen

IUCN Red List

not listed

NatureServe

NNR - Unranked

Minnesota

not listed

Trumpet Lichen is a common, cosmopolitan, pixie cup lichen. It occurs worldwide on every continent including Antarctica. In the United States it is common in the east and in the west, but it is mostly absent from the deep south, the desert southwest, the Great Plains, and the Great Basin. It grows under full sun or partial shade, on humus-rich soil, on rotting logs and stumps, and on tree bases.

Trumpet Lichen produces two types of vegetative growth (thallus). The primary thallus is a leaf-like scale (squamule) that lies on the soil. The squamules are up to ¼″ (6 mm) long and ⅛″ (4 mm) wide. They are numerous but often small and inconspicuous. The margins may be toothed, lobed, or simply wavy. The surface is green to grayish-green or whitish-gray and is coarsely covered with granules (soredia), especially under the margins. The squamules are persistent, remaining as the secondary thallus matures, but they sometimes break up into clumps of soredia.

The secondary thallus is a vertical, unbranched, ¼″ to 13⁄16″ (6 to 30 mm) tall, 1 ⁄32″ to 1 ⁄16″ (1 to 2 mm) thick stalk (podetium) that rises from the center of a squamule. It is green when growing in the shade, grayish-green to whitish-gray when exposed to the sun. It is covered by a thick, persistent layer of very fine soredia. The layer of protective tissue (cortex) may be complete up to the cup, just at the base, or entirely missing. The stalks broaden gradually at the tip into a 1 ⁄32″ to ⅛″ (2 to 6 mm) wide, symmetrical, strongly convex, trumpet-shaped cup. This is the feature that gives the lichen its common name. The margins are unlobed and untoothed, or minutely toothed.

Reproductive structures (apothecia) on the margins of the cup are uncommon. When present, they are brown and up to 1⁄16″ (1.5 mm) in diameter.

Similar Species

Felt Horn Lichen (Cladonia phyllophora) is larger. The squamules are up to ⅝″ (15 mm) long, and they often disappear as the secondary thallus matures. The podetia are up to 3⅛″ (80 mm) tall. Apothecia are abundant.

Substrate

Ground

Growth Form

Fruticose

Habitat

Hosts