It’s true that this is decorticate, but Cladina also never has squamules (note, squamules have an upper cortex).  Look at photos of C. scabriuscula on google — this looks very typical for that species.  In general, there are several branched species of Cladonia, some even more branched than this.  See, for example, C. furcata and C. uncialis. 

[It’s also worth noting that Cladina has turned out to be just a small part of Cladonia (is it even monophyletic?)  and is officially no longer recognized!]