LICHALP

Cladonia stygia (Fr.) Ruoss

Syn.: Cladina stygia (Fr.) Ahti, Cladonia rangiferina (L.) F.H. Wigg. f. stygia Fr.

Lichenised.

Substrate: living mosses

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 recalling a robust C. rangiferina, but the dying bases of podetia strongly blackening, and the pycnidial slime red; in bogs and similar moist habitats; widespread in the Holarctic region, most common in the northern boreal zone; in the Alps rare, and restricted to raised bogs from the valley bottoms to the subalpine belt.