Southern Soldiers

Cladonia didyma is a fruticose lichen, commonly known as southern soldiers, belonging to the family Cladoniaceae, which include fungal symbionts under the Ascomycota phylum with characteristic red ascocarps containing sexually reproductive asci.

Initially named Scyphophorus didymus (Fée 1824), it was later reclassified into Cladonia didyma in 1887. Its namesake is described as deriving from the ancient Greek κλᾰ́δος (kládos) meaning 'branching' and Δίδυμος (didymus) describing 'bunched', 'clustered' or 'paired' indicative of the branched like structures characteristic of the Cladonia genus and the often observed clusters of C. didyma found among various other Cladonia spp. or other C. didyma variants.

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