LICHALP

Aspicilia prestensis Cl. Roux & A. Nordin

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 species described from the Pyrenees, with an areolate, non-effigurate, whitish-grey thallus reacting K+ red, often confused with A. cinerea (with smaller ascospores and conidia) and A. spermatomanes (with glebulose areolae, cortex with a brown pigment, longer conidia); it grows on acidic rocks, with optimum in sunny places, near and above treeline. A similar species, A. epiglypta is restricted to coastal areas in Northern Europe, and records from elsewhere may be due to confusion with other species, especially with A. prestensis.