TYPE. UNITED STATES. “Alabama septentrionalis” (probably Moulton Co.: Tuskegee), 1853, J.F. Beaumont 25 (FH-Tuck 2488, lectotype designated by Robbins (1927) and clarified by Ahti et al. (2016).

Description. Lichenized fungus.

Thallus dimorphic. Primary thallus squamulose; squamules gray-green, small to medium (1.5-2 mm wide), irregular, clustered, crenate to digitately incised, erect to ascending, white beneath. Photobiont trebouxioid alga. Podetia short to elongate 10-18 x 1-1.8 mm, slender, cylindrical becoming slender, cupless, dichotomously branched, the branches sometimes much entangled, +/- squamulose; cortex minutely areolate, scattered, concolorous with squamules. Ascomata biatorine apothecia, 0.1-0.3 mm. diam., solitary or clustered on the apices of the branches; disk convex, brownish to brown.

Chemistry. K-, PD+ yellow; squamatic and baeomycesic acids.

Substrate and Habitat. On soil or humus in mixed forests and woodlands.

Distribution. Eastern North America; in North Carolina records from Coastal Plain and Piedmont ecoregions.

Literature

Ahti, T., R. Pino-Bodas, A. Flakus & S. Stenroos. (2016) Additions to the global diversity of Cladonia. The Lichenologist 48(5): 517-526.

Fink, B. (1935) The Lichen Flora of the United States. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor. 426 pp.

Hammer, S. (1996) Meristem initials: distinguishing characters in two Cladonia species. The Bryologist 99(4): 397-400.

Robbins, C.A. (1927). The Identity of Cladonia beaumontii. Rhodora 29(343): 133-138.

Tuckerman, E. (1882) A synopsis of the North American lichens. Part. I, comprising the Parmeliacei, Cladoniei and Coenogoniei. S.F. Cassino, Boston. 262 pp. (original description as Cladonia santensis var. beaumontii).

Wainio, E. (1894) Monographia Cladoniarum Universalis II. Acta Societatis pro Fauna et Flora Fennica 10: 1-499.