LICHALP

Aspicilia polychroma Anzi subsp. polychroma

Syn.: Lecanora polychroma (Anzi) Nyl.

Lichenised.

Substrate: siliceous rocks

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 mainly arctic-alpine, perhaps circumpolar, chemically and morphologically variable species with optimum on more or less calciferous siliceous rocks; widespread throughout the Alps, wherever suitable substrata are present.