LICHALP

Squamarina nivalis Frey & Poelt

Lichenised.

Substrate: calciferous soil, acidic soil (mostly on siliceous substrata), intermediate rocks (such as calciferous schists)

Altitudinal range: from the alpine belt (potential vegetation: treeless Alpine grasslands and tundras, to the lower limit of perennial snow and the equilibrium line of glaciers) to the nival belt (above the lower limit of perennial snow and glaciers)

Note: on wind-exposed outcrops of calcareous schists above treeline, reaching the nival belt in the Alps, where it is probably more widespread, but certainly not common.