LICHALP

Caloplaca nivalis (Körb.) Th. Fr.

Syn.: Bacidia livida (Bagl. & Carestia) Lettau, Bilimbia livida Bagl. & Carestia, Candelariella nivalis (Körb.) Lettau, Gyalolechia nivalis (Körb) A. Massal., Placodium nivale (Körb.) Tuck., Zeora nivalis Körb.

Lichenised.

Substrate: living mosses, plant debris, siliceous rocks,

Altitudinal range: from the subalpine belt (potential vegetation: open, taiga-like forests dominated by Larix decidua and/or Pinus cembra and Rhododendron) to the alpine belt (potential vegetation: treeless Alpine grasslands and tundras, to the lower limit of perennial snow and the equilibrium line of glaciers)

Note: a cool-temperate to boreal-montane, circumpolar species found on silicicolous mosses (mainly Andreaea and Grimmia); widespread in the Alps. See also note on C. tornoensis.