LICHALP

Verrucaria muralis Ach.

Syn.: ?Verrucaria argillacea Fr., Verrucaria subdendritica Servít, Verrucaria submuralis Nyl.; incl. Verrucaria rupestris Schrad. non (Scop.) F.H. Wigg.

Lichenised.

Substrate: calciferous rocks, siliceous rocks

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 early coloniser of pebbles, mortar walls, brick and roofing tiles, with optimum in the submediterranean belt. Some records could refer to V. rupestris, which until recently was confused with this species, from which it differs in the endolithic thallus and the immersed perithecia; widespread throughout the Alps.