LICHALP

Protoblastenia rupestris (Scop.) J. Steiner subsp. rhodothecia Cl. Roux

Syn.: Protoblastenia rupestris (Scop.) J. Steiner var. rhodothecia Asta, Clauzade & Cl. Roux nom. inval.

Lichenised.

Substrate: calciferous 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 taxon resembling var. rupestris, but apothecia with a purple-rose hypothecium; on superficially decalcified calcareous rocks (ecology similar to that of Stenhammarella turgida) in alpine environments; recorded with certainty only from France, but perhaps not recognised elsewhere.