LICHALP

Placopyrenium cinereoatratum (Degel.) Orange

Syn.: Verrucaria cinereoatrata Degel.

Lichenised.

Substrate:

Altitudinal range: from the submediterranean/colline belt (potential vegetation: mixed deciduous forests dominated by Quercus and Carpinus) 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 resembling P. fuscellum, with a crustose to subsquamulose, irregularly areolate, pruinose thallus; a facultative parasite of Staurothele fissa on siliceous rocks along streams and lakes; widespread in Western and Northern Europe but rare, with two isolated records from the Alps, but perhaps not recognised, and therefore overlooked elsewhere.