LICHALP

Candelariella aggregata M. Westb.

Lichenised.

Substrate: calciferous rocks,

Altitudinal range: from the submediterranean/colline belt (potential vegetation: mixed deciduous forests dominated by Quercus and Carpinus) to the subalpine belt (potential vegetation: open, taiga-like forests dominated by Larix decidua and/or Pinus cembra and Rhododendron)

Note: a species resembling C. aurella, but with a granular thallus and usually aggregated apothecia lacking a hypothecial stipe of elongated strongly gelatinised cells, based on a type from a high elevation locality in Western North America, on plant debris and cushions of bryophytes; so far there are only a few records from the Alps, but perhaps the species was not distinguished from C. aurella in the past.