LICHALP

Phaeorrhiza nimbosa (Fr.) H. Mayrhofer & Poelt

Syn.: Parmelia nimbosa Fr., Rinodina nimbosa (Fr.) Tr.Fr.

Lichenised.

Substrate: calciferous soil, acidic soil (mostly on siliceous substrata), plant debris, 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 nival belt (above the lower limit of perennial snow and glaciers)

Note: a circumpolar, arctic-alpine species found on naked earth, dead mosses and plant debris on more or less calciferous ground, often in wind-exposed situations, with optimum above treeline; common in the Alps, where it reaches the nival belt.