Cladonia mediterranea

Cladonia mediterranea
©Fred Rumsey

This is a low, pale grey branching lichen that grows in short grassy areas of open heathland only on the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall.

The main threats are the risk of fire and insufficient grazing which would allow coarser vegetation to smother it and increase the fire risk.

Although it bears considerable resemblance in the field to the common species Cladonia portentosa, laboratory research has recently confirmed that it is a species in its own right, rather than just a different form of the commoner species.