LICHALP

Cladonia uliginosa (Ahti) Ahti

Syn.: Cladonia gracilescens auct., Cladonia lepidota var. gracilescens auct., Cladonia stricta (Nyl.) Nyl. var. uliginosa Ahti

Lichenised.

Substrate: acidic soil (mostly on siliceous substrata), living mosses

Altitudinal range: from the subalpine belt (potential vegetation: open, taiga-like forests dominated by Larix decidua and/or Pinus cembra and Rhododendron) to the nival belt (above the lower limit of perennial snow and glaciers)

Note: a species with an evanescent primary thallus, scyphose podetia repeatedly proliferating from the centre, and a strongly melanotic medulla high up in living podetia; on wet, acid soil or on soil layers over siliceous rocks; the distribution is mainly subarctic-continental, and the records from the Alps need verification.