I believe I've narrowed this reindeer lichen down to star-tipped because it's a clump, about as big as my fist, growing under an azalea bush.
Star-tipped Reindeer Lichen (Cladonia stellaris syn. Cladina stellaris)
--Habitat: At higher elevations in open areas or in open woods
--Substrate: Sandy soil, humus
--Isidia & Soredia: None
--Apothecia: Uncommon, at tips of branches, reddish-brown. Pycnidia are reddish-brown.
--Distinctive Features: Grows in clumped yellow-green rounded mounds that suggest cauliflower that escaped the kitchen and went feral. Branching is dense and dichotomous; short branches repeatedly rebranch, usually without one main stalk. Ultimate branchlets are typically in 4's (two groups of 2) and groups of branches may surround an open axil. A cortex is lacking and the cottony medulla and can be seen.
--Notes: This is the only one growing in compact yellow-green mounds, quite distinct even from a distance. This is the favorite food lichen for caribou, preferred over C. rangiferina. It is also used in arts and crafts and for the extraction of usnic acid (used as an antibiotic).
