''Cladonia arbuscula'' or the shrubby cup lichen is a species of

cup lichen A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

in the

Cladoniaceae The Cladoniaceae are a family of lichenized fungi in the order Lecanorales. It is one of the largest families of lichen-forming fungi, with about 560 species distributed amongst 17 genera. The reindeer moss and cup lichens (''Cladonia'') belong t ...

family.

Taxonomy

Name

The species name "arbuscula" is Latin for the word "bush" or "shrub", which may be due to the fact that the lichen has branches that resemble a bush.

Subspecies

C. arbuscula has 6 subspecies: * ''Cladonia arbuscula'' subsp. ''arbuscula'' (Wallr.) Flot. * ''Cladonia arbuscula'' subsp. ''beringiana'' Ahti * ''Cladonia arbuscula'' subsp. ''boliviana'' (Ahti) Ahti & De Priest * ''Cladonia arbuscula'' subsp. ''imshaugii'' (Ahti) Ahti & De Priest * ''Cladonia arbuscula'' subsp. ''mitis'' (Sandst.) Ruoss * ''Cladonia arbuscula'' subsp. ''pachyderma'' (Ahti) Ahti & De Priest

Ecology

''Cladonia arbuscula'' is a known host species for the fungus '' Lichenopeltella cladoniarum''.

References

arbuscula {{lichen-stub