LICHALP

Polyblastia bryophila Lönnr.

Lichenised.

Substrate: plant debris, calciferous rocks

Altitudinal distribution: alpine belt (potential vegetation: treeless Alpine grasslands and tundras, to the lower limit of perennial snow and the equilibrium line of glaciers)

Note: a species resembling P. sendtneri, but with a subsquamulose thallus on a black prothallus, only slightly immersed ascomata developing mainly along the edges of the areolae, larger and more muriform ascospores with 5-7 transversal septa and 3-5 longitudinal septa; overgrowing mosses and plant debris on calcareous soil; overall distribution Holarctic, most common in Northern Europe; in the Alps rare, but perhaps not recognised or overlooked in some countries.