A distinctive, fruticose species with a compact, greyish-brown, bushy thallus that may have a pinkish tinge when wet. The branchlets tend to grow all to the same height, appearing as if shorn or grazed, and have all more or less the same width.
Medulla: C-, K-, UV+ blue-white
In Scotland, Sphaerophorus fragilis is mainly found in the uplands where it is locally common on mountain outcrops, screes and boulders. BLS distribution map
Sphaerophorus fragilis is distinguished from Sphaerophorus globosus by the shorn appearance, the greyish rather than reddish-brown tinge, and the branches being of more or less equal width.
scottishlichens.co.uk 