LICHALP

Peltigera canina (L.) Willd.

Syn.: Lichen caninus L., Peltidea canina (L.) Ach., Peltidea leucorrhiza Flörke nom.illeg., Peltigera suomensis Gyeln.

Lichenised.

Substrate: living mosses, plant debris, calciferous soil, acidic soil (mostly on siliceous substrata)

Altitudinal range: from the mesomediterranean belt (potential vegetation: evergreen broad-leaved forests dominated by Quercus ilex) 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 widespread holarctic species found on terricolous mosses and soil in open forests and heathlands, sometimes on bark in the basal parts of old trees; certainly rarer than P. praetextata, but widespread and locally common in the Alps, with a wide altitudinal range; it was often confused with P. membranacea and P. praetextata in the older literature.