Pixie Cup Lichen

For one with a wild imagination, this lichen is aptly named, Pixie Cup Lichen (Cladonia asahinae). I can just imagine pixies making a collection of these lichens to toast in the Pixie New Year.

Pixie Cup Lichen grows on just a few species of mosses, in Europe, North America, South America, and hard to believe, even in the Antarctic.

I’m sure happy that it grows here on my mountain, to benefit the pixies.

Published by

Brenda Clements Jones

Brenda is a certified Virginia Master Naturalist, a Habitat Defender for Shenandoah National Park, and a devoted fan of Mother Nature. She lives in a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Shenandoah National Park, and hikes up to the higher elevations of her mountain often to see what nature is up to. Her constant hiking companion is a camera that captures nature as it unfolds through the seasons. It’s her goal to share the natural world around her through her photographs.