LICHALP

Polycauliona ucrainica (S.Y. Kondr.) Frödén, Arup & Søchting

Syn.: Massjukiella ucrainica (S.Y. Kondr.) S.Y. Kondr., Fedorenko, S. Stenroos, Kärnefelt, Elix, Hur & A. Thell, Xanthoria ucrainica S.Y. Kondr.

Lichenised. Poorly known taxon.

Substrate: bark

Altitudinal range: from the montane belt (potential vegetation: deciduous forests dominated by Fagus sylvatica and closed coniferous forests with Picea abies) to the subalpine belt (potential vegetation: open, taiga-like forests dominated by Larix decidua and/or Pinus cembra and Rhododendron)

Note: a species resembling P. candelaria (and perhaps just an extreme morphotype of the latter), but lobes distinctly foliose, becoming wider towards the margin, divided into microlobuli forming blastidia (40-60 µm in diam.), and pycnidia containing ellipsoid rather than bacilliform pycnoconidia; usually on bark of deciduous trees; widespread in Europe and Asia but rather rare, perhaps not always distinguished from other Polycauliona species; for the Alps there are only a few scattered records from Austria and Switzerland.