A red-fruited Cladonia with orange bases of the undersides of primary squamules and usually unbranched podetia, sometimes narrowly scyphose. It occurs on decaying wood, tree bases, humus, acidic soil and rarely also on mossy rocks and stones. It is a boreal-montane lichen with oceanic tendencies. In central Europe, C. polydactyla is abundant in mountain areas. Likewise, in the Czech Republic, it more commonly occurs at altitudes above 700 m. Locally, it may also be more abundant in ravines of the north-Bohemian sandstone rock formations with inverted climate. It is also frequent in spruce forests. If only primary squamules are present, or podetia are underdeveloped, it may be easily overlooked or difficult to distinguish from the common C. macilenta.
In addition to the typical chemotype containing thamnolic acid, populations containing squamatic acid are also known from oceanic regions of Europe and have been referred to as C. umbricola. According to current knowledge, this represents only a chemotype (Konečná et al. 2026), which has not yet been found in the Czech Republic.
Literature: Konečná E., Steinová J., Černajová I. & Grewe F. (2026): Unravelling the secret of phantom phenotypes in macrolichens: insights from Cladonia bellidiflora complex. – Molecular Ecology 35: e70515 [20 p.].
taxonomic classification:Ascomycota → Lecanoromycetes → Lecanorales → Cladoniaceae → Cladonia
most frequented synonyms:Cladonia flabelliformisAll records: 469, confirmed 249. One click on a selected square displays particular record(s), including their source(s).