This week for Flora and Fauna Friday we have a spongy photosynthesizing fungus better known from the great white north but native to some of our more quintessentially Carolina biomes: Reindeer Moss, genus Cladonia.
Reindeer Moss is a genus of fungi found across the globe. There are many species in the genus but today we’re focusing on just the mat-forming species. This lichen grows in spongy blue-green mats. Like a root ball turned upside-down, their minute branches split and taper fractally into a foam-like frothy web of fungus. Reindeer Lichens exist in a plethora of biomes from the Reindeer grazed plains of the Canadian tundra to the fire razed savannas of the South Carolina Lowcountry. Since we’re here and not there, I’ll be talking about our local lichens.
As alluded, Reindeer Moss is commonly found growing on the patches of bare, sandy soil in our fire managed Longleaf Pine savannas. It’s also quite numerous on sandy ditch banks and other dry, nutrient poor soils where little else grows. Reindeer Moss does well here because of its special characteristics as a lichen. A lichen is not your ordinary ‘shroom, this fungus is something much different. Unlike the fungi we’re used to seeing, lichens do not live underground nor do they feed on detritus. Lichens photosynthesize. Well, to be more precise, Lichens are a compound organism. They are composed of a fungus and a colony of single-celled alga or cyanobacteria. The two live together in a relationship a little more advanced than traditional symbiosis, with the fungus being entirely dependent on the alga for food and the alga living entirely within the fungus. Because of this, lichens can grow anywhere there is light. However, unlike plants, the root-like hyphae and unique biochemistry of a fungus allow the lichen to obtain mineral nutrition from practically anywhere. Just like some non-vascular plants, they are very drought tolerant. Many lichens live on tree bark, rocks, or bare soil and rely on rainwater and alluvium for nutrients. Some can even dissolve rock to a limited extent. Reindeer moss is no exception. This allows it to, quite literally, carve out a niche where no plant can!
