LICHALP

Placidiopsis pseudocinerea Breuss

Syn.: Placidiopsis cervina auct. scand. non (Nyl.) Vain.

Lichenised.

Substrate: calciferous soil, living mosses

Altitudinal range: from the subalpine belt (potential vegetation: open, taiga-like forests dominated by Larix decidua and/or Pinus cembra and Rhododendron) 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: an arctic-alpine, circumpolar lichen found on soil and on moribund bryophytes on siliceous, base-rich or slightly calciferous soil (e.g. on calcareous schist), with optimum near and above treeline; it can be easily confused with Catapyrenium cinereum and is certainly much more widespread in the Alps.