Cladonia stygia (Fr.) Ruoss.

  Primary thallus crustaceous and evanescent. Tufted podetia, 4-10 cm high, branched with terminal branches ending in (3) 4, dark brown, blackish tips, these terminal branches are curved and directed in one direction, gray surface, grayish, a little cottony, typically aerolated, especially towards the base which becomes darker and dark gray or blackish with a mosaic of small blackish areoles. Very rare apothecia. Pycnidia quite rare, dark brown to blackish, with a red internal gel. C-, K+ yellow, KC-, Pd+ red, UV-. Nordic species which is mountainous and alpine in France, occurring in acidic moors covered with snow in winter (reindeer lichen group).

N.B. Species very close to Cladonia rangiferina and confused but recently separated by molecular biology. The latter species being less gray and less northern.