LICHALP

Gyalecta friesii Flot. ex Körb.

Syn.: Gyalecta denudata Th. Fr., Petractis friesii (Flot. ex Körb.) A. Massal., Secoliga friesii (Flot. ex Körb.) A. Massal.

Lichenised.

Substrate: living mosses, plant debris

Altitudinal range: from the montane belt (potential vegetation: deciduous forests dominated by Fagus sylvatica and closed coniferous forests with Picea abies) 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 circumboreal-montane species growing on bryophytes and plant debris, more rarely on bark of conifers and on siliceous rocks, with optimum near or above treeline; apparently very rare in the Alps.