goblets up on the open sunny ground

Size
Height: 2–5 cm
Lifespan
10–30 years
Diet
Photosynthetic. Obtains nutrients via mycorrhizal exchange with host tree roots.
Habitat
Grows on the ground, on rotting logs, and on mossy banks throughout New Zealand. A creature of the damp soil, the rotting wood, the places where the ground is soft and the light is low. Found from sea level to the alpine zone, particularly in open, sunny locations where the soil is well-drained. The lichen of the tiny goblet, the one that collects nothing and persists anyway.
Range
Found throughout the North and South Islands on ground, rotting logs, and mossy banks in open, sunny locations. Most common in the South Island's high country and the North Island's volcanic plateau. Also found in temperate and cold regions worldwide.
Endemism
Native
Main Threats
None significant. This species is common and widespread in open, sunny locations. Localised threats include habitat loss from land development, trampling by hikers, and climate change affecting soil moisture.
Population
Not Threatened. This is a common and widespread lichen in New Zealand, particularly in the South Island's high country and the North Island's volcanic plateau. It grows on the ground, on rotting logs, and on mossy banks.
Conservation Status
Not Threatened
Human Risk
harmless
Handling Note
crustose/fruticose lichen, safe to handle
Conservation Note
Native lichen; not assessed by NZTCS as lichens are generally outside the scope of current threat classifications.
Te Ao Māori
No recorded Māori name distinguishes the cup lichen from other lichens. Lichens were generally called pūkohu (mosses and lichens) or pukorokoro (crustose lichens). The tiny cup shape would have been noticed. It looked like a small vessel like a container for offerings but no distinct name survives. The cup lichen was sometimes used as a dye. The pale greenish pigment could be extracted and used to colour fibres though it was not as vibrant as other lichens.
The one that looks like a tiny drinking vessel has a body that is pale greyish-green with a stalk that rises from the ground and flares out into a small cup-shaped structure at the top. The cups are usually 5 to 10 millimetres across with a rolled or toothed margin. They look like tiny goblets like something from a fairy tale like vessels for a feast of the forest folk. It is the lichen of the empty cup the one that collects nothing and persists anyway. What makes it special is the shape. The cup lichen is a fruticose lichen meaning it grows upright like a tiny shrub but with a distinctive cup at the tip. The cups are called podetia and they are the reproductive structures of the lichen. The margins of the cups are often covered in tiny powdery granules (soredia) that break off and grow into new lichens. It is a master of fragmentation a plant that reproduces by crumbling scattering its dust across the ground. The stalk is pale greyish-green often covered in tiny scale-like projections. It is hollow and brittle easily broken. The cups are usually solitary but can be clustered forming a small colony of tiny goblets on the ground. When you find a patch of cup lichen it looks like a fairy village a settlement of tiny cups waiting to be filled. Biologically the cup lichen is a partnership a fungus and an alga living together. The fungus provides structure and protection. The alga provides food through photosynthesis. The cup lichen grows slowly a few millimetres per year and a large cup may be decades old. Each cup represents years of patient growth a slow accumulation of cells and pigments. To find cup lichen is to find the tiny goblets on the ground. They are pale cup-shaped and fragile a miniature drinking vessel in the soil. You can run your finger around the rim and feel the rolled edge. It is the lichen of the empty cup the one that collects nothing and persists anyway the one that proves that the most beautiful things are often the smallest and the most easily overlooked.