Cladonia crispata (Ach.) Flot. var. crispata

     Primary thallus scaly, more or less persistent, scales 1-3 mm long, incised apex, upper surface greenish-grey, lower surface whitish. Podetiums slender, 2-7 cm high, 2-4 mm wide, rarely branched, hollow and sometimes split or perforated, ending in a point or a funnel-shaped scypha perforated at the base, margin bordered by small spiny digits arranged in a star, surface corticate and not sorediate with sometimes small scales towards the base (if the scales are numerous, see: Cladonia crispata var. divulsa), greyish, greenish-grey becoming chocolate brown with drought and old age. Apothecia infrequently at the margin of the cups, globose, brown-black. Ascospores simple, hyaline. Pycnidia brown-black giving hyaline conidia. Photobiont: Chlorococcoid. C-, K-, KC-, Pd-, UV+ white. Boreal and arctic species, subalpine in France, occurring on woody debris-rich mountain soils.

See: Cladonia crispata var. cetrariiformis, less mountainous and more oceanic, thinner and capable of forming several "levels".

See: Cladonia crispata var. divulsa, very scaly.

N.B. This "species" is highly variable and considered polyphyletic.