sticks up on the open acidic ground
- Size
- Height: 1–3 cm
- Lifespan
- 10–30 years
- Diet
- Symbiotic partnership. Fungus provides structure. Alga provides food via photosynthesis. Requires well-drained, acidic soils and good light.
- Habitat
- Grows on ground, rotting logs, and mossy banks in open, sunny locations. Found from sea level to alpine zone particularly where soil is well-drained and acidic.
- Range
- Found throughout North and South Islands on ground, rotting logs, and mossy banks. Most common in South Island high country and North Island volcanic plateau. Also found worldwide.
- Endemism
- Native
- Main Threats
- None significant. Common and widespread in open, sunny locations. Localised threats include habitat loss, trampling by hikers, and climate change affecting soil moisture.
- Population
- Not Threatened. Common and widespread lichen in New Zealand particularly in South Island high country and North Island volcanic plateau. Grows on ground and logs.
- Conservation Status
- Not Threatened
- Human Risk
- harmless
- Handling Note
- 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 matchstick lichen from other lichens. Lichens generally called pūkohu or pukorokoro. Matchstick shape would have been noticed. Looked like tiny fire stick. Like tool for making fire. No distinct name survives. Sometimes used as dye. Red pigment extracted to colour fibres. Though not as vibrant as other red dyes.
Cladonia floerkeana looks like a tiny burnt match. Its body is pale greyish-green. With a slender stalk rising from ground. Topped with bright red, club-shaped structure at tip. Red cap smaller and more rounded than other Cladonia species. Looks exactly like head of match. Stalk thin and straight. Like matchstick. Lichen of burnt match. Looks like it has been struck and waiting to be used again.
What makes it special is resemblance. Matchstick lichen is one of most aptly named lichens in New Zealand. Slender stalk and bright red tip look exactly like wooden match. Kind you strike against box to light fire. Red cap is spore-producing part called apothecium. Bright red, scarlet, vermilion. Flash of colour in green moss. Stalk is pale greyish-green. Often covered in tiny, scale-like projections. Hollow and brittle. Easily broken.
It is fruticose lichen. Meaning it grows upright. Like tiny shrub. But with distinctive matchstick shape. Stalks usually solitary but can be clustered. Forming small colony of tiny matches on ground. When you find cluster, it looks like matchbox that has been spilled. Scattering of tiny red-tipped sticks.
Biologically it is partnership. Fungus and alga living together. Fungus provides structure and protection. Alga provides food through photosynthesis. Red caps are sexual reproductive structures. Producing spores that will grow into new lichens.
To find matchstick lichen is to find tiny matches in moss. Pale stalks with bright red tips. Flash of colour on forest floor. Run finger over red cap. Feel smooth surface. Lichen of burnt match. Looks like tiny stick waiting to be struck. Proves smallest things can be most striking. No one told it otherwise.