LICHALP

Caloplaca castellana (Räsänen) Poelt

Syn.: Pachypeltis castellana (Räsänen) Søchting, Frödén & Arup, Placodium castellanum Räsänen

Lichenised.

Substrate: siliceous rocks, intermediate rocks (such as calciferous schists)

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: a species with a thallus consisting of dispersed, brownish-orange squamules, often overgrowing Spilonema, and usually a single reddish apothecium per squamule; on steep rock faces of mineral-rich schists with variable contents of calcium; widespread in the Holarctic region, with scattered records from the Alps.