matchstick lichen with red-capped stalks rising from grey mats
- Size
- Height: 1–3 cm
- Lifespan
- 10–30 years
- Diet
- Grows on ground, rotting logs, and mossy banks in open, sunny locations. Requires well-drained, acidic soils and good light. Tolerates sun, wind, and moderate drought.
- Habitat
- Grows on ground, rotting logs, and mossy banks in open, sunny locations. Found from sea level to the alpine zone, particularly where the soil is well-drained and acidic. The lichen of the burnt match, the one that looks like a tiny stick waiting to be struck.
- 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
The one that looks like a tiny burnt match has a body that is pale greyish-green, with a slender stalk that rises from the ground and is topped with a bright red, club-shaped structure at the tip. The red cap is smaller and more rounded than in other Cladonia species, looking exactly like the head of a match. The stalk is thin and straight, like a matchstick. It is the lichen of the burnt match, the one that looks like it has been struck and waiting to be used again.
What makes it special is the resemblance. The matchstick lichen is one of the most aptly named lichens in New Zealand. Its slender stalk and bright red tip look exactly like a wooden match, the kind you strike against a box to light a fire. The red cap is the spore-producing part of the lichen, called the apothecium. It is bright red, scarlet, vermilion, a flash of colour in the green moss. The stalk is pale greyish-green, often covered in tiny, scale-like projections. It is hollow and brittle, easily broken.
The matchstick lichen is a fruticose lichen, meaning it grows upright, like a tiny shrub, but with a distinctive matchstick shape. The stalks are usually solitary but can be clustered, forming a small colony of tiny matches on the ground. When you find a cluster, it looks like a matchbox that has been spilled, a scattering of tiny red-tipped sticks.
Biologically, the matchstick lichen is a partnership, a fungus and an alga living together. The fungus provides structure and protection. The alga provides food through photosynthesis. The red caps are the sexual reproductive structures, producing spores that will grow into new lichens.
To find matchstick lichen is to find the tiny matches in the moss. They are pale stalks with bright red tips, a flash of colour on the forest floor. You can run your finger over the red cap and feel the smooth surface. It is the lichen of the burnt match, the one that looks like a tiny stick waiting to be struck, the one that proves that the smallest things can be the most striking.