Many species, especially those of the section Cladina, soon lose all connection with the substratum, there being a continual decay of the lower part of the podetia. As apical growth may continue for centuries, the perishing of the base is not to be wondered at.
G. Haptera
The presence of haptera in Cladoniae has already been alluded to. They occur usually in the form of cilia or rhizinae[404], but differ from the latter in their more simple regular growth being composed of conglutinate parallel hyphae. They arise on the edges of the squamules or of the scyphus, but in Cl. foliacea and Cl. ceratophylla they are formed at the points of the podetial branches (more rarely in Cl. cervicornis and Cl. gracilis). By the aid of these rhizinose haptera the squamule or branch becomes attached to any substance within reach. They also aid in the production of new individuals by anchoring some fragment of the thallus to a support until it has grown to independent existence and has produced new rhizinae or hold-fasts. They are a very prominent feature of Cl. verticillaris f. penicillata in which they form a thick fringe on the edges of the squamules, or frequently grow out as branched cilia from the proliferations on the margins of the scyphus.
H. Morphology of the Podetium
In the above account, the podetia have been treated as part of the vegetative thallus, seeing that, partly or entirely, they are assimilative and absorptive organs. This view does not, however, take into account their origin and development, in consideration of which Wainio[405] and later Krabbe[406] considered them as part of the sporiferous organ. This view was also held by some of the earliest lichenologists: Necker[407], for instance, constantly referred to the upright structure as “stipes”; Persoon[408] included it, under the term “pedunculus,” as part of the “inflorescence” of the lichen, and Acharius[409] established the name “podetium” to describe the stalk of the apothecium in Baeomyces.
Later lichenologists, such as Wallroth[410], looked on the podetia as advanced stages of the thallus, or as forming a supplementary thallus. Tulasne[411] described them as branching upright processes from the horizontal form, and Koerber[412] considered them as the true thallus, the primary squamule being merely a protothallus. By them and by succeeding students of lichens the twofold character of the thallus was accepted until Wainio and Krabbe by their more exact researches discovered the endogenous origin of the podetium, which they considered was conclusive evidence of its apothecial character: they claimed that the primordium of the podetium was homologous with the primordium of the apothecium. Reinke[413] and Wainio are in accord with Krabbe as to the probable morphological significance of the podetium, but they both insist on its modified thalline character. Wainio sums up that: “the podetium is an apothecial stalk, that is to say an elongation of the conceptacle most frequently transformed by metamorphosis to a vertical thallus, though visibly retaining its stalk character.” Sättler[414], one of the most recent students of Cladonia, regards the podetium as evolved with reference to spore-dissemination, and therefore of apothecial character. His views are described and discussed in the chapter on phylogeny.
Reinke and others sought for a solution of the problem in Baeomyces, one of the more primitive genera of the Cladoniaceae. The thallus, except in a few mostly exotic species, scarcely advances beyond the crustaceous condition; the podetia are short and so varied in character that species have been assigned by systematists to several different genera. In one of them, Baeomyces roseus, the podetium or stalk originates according to Nienburg[415] deep down in the medulla of a fertile granule as a specialized weft of tissue; there is no carpogonium nor trichogyne formed; the hyphae that grow upward and form the podetium are generative filaments and give rise to asci and paraphyses. In a second species, B. rufus (Sphyridium), the gonidial zone and outer cortex of a thalline granule swell out to form a thalline protuberance; the carpogonium arises close to the apex, and from it branch the generative filaments. Nienburg regards the stalk of B. roseus as apothecial and as representing an extension of the proper margin[416] (excipulum proprium), that of B. rufus as a typical vegetative podetium.
In the genus Cladonia, differentiation of the generative hyphae may take place at a very early stage. Wainio[417] observed, in Cl. caespiticia, a trichogyne in a still solid podetium only 90µ in height; usually they appear later, and, where scyphi are formed, the carpogonium often arises at the edge of the scyphus. Baur[418] and Wolff[419] have furnished conclusive evidence of the late appearance of the carpogonium in Cl. pyxidata, Cl. degenerans, Cl. furcata and Cl. gracilis: in all of these species carpogonia with trichogynes were observed on the edge of well-developed scyphi. Baur draws the conclusion that the podetium is merely a vertical thallus, citing as additional evidence that it also bears the spermogonia (or pycnidia), though at the same time he allows that the apothecium may have played an important part in its phylogenetic development. He agrees also with the account of the first appearance of the podetium as described by Krabbe, who found that it began with the hyphae of the gonidial zone branching upwards in a quite normal manner, only that there were more of them, and that they finally pierced the cortex. Krabbe also asserted that in the early stages the podetia were without gonidia and that these arrived later from the open as colonists, in this contradicting Wainio’s statement that gonidia were carried up from the primary thallus.
It seems probable that the podetium—as Wainio and Baur both have stated—is homologous with the apothecial stalk, though in most cases it is completely transformed into a vertical thallus. If the view of their formation from the gonidial zone is accepted, then they differ widely in origin from normal branches in which the tissues of the main axis are repeated in the secondary structures, whereas in this vertical thallus, hyphae from the gonidial zone alone take part in the development. It must be admitted that Baur’s view of the podetium as essentially thalline seems to be strengthened by the formation of podetia at the centre of the scyphus, as in Cl. verticillata, which are new structures and are not an elongation of the original conceptacular tissue. It can however equally be argued that the acquired thalline character is complete and, therefore, includes the possibility of giving rise to new podetia.