LICHALP

Toensbergia leucococca (R. Sant.) Bendiksby & Timdal

Syn.: Hypocenomyce leucococca R. Sant., Pycnora leucococca (R. Sant.) R. Sant.

Lichenised.

Substrate: bark

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 peculiar, obligately sterile species with a thallus consisting of scattered, whitish, adnate areolae and usually marginal soralia, containing alectorialic acid; on bark of deciduous trees in various forest types; widespread in the Holarctic region from the boreal to the nemoral-montane zone, including the Alps, but still overlooked in some regions.