This is a provisional key to the lichens occurring in the Italian Alps near and above treeline, prepared on the occasion of the excursion of the Association Française de Lichénologie on Mt. Cenis in August 2022. The key is focused on lichens occurring in the alpine and nival belts; many rare species occurring in the subalpine belt are not included. The key, which includes 1329 infrageneric taxa, several of which were never reported from Italy but are known from neighbouring countries, will be tested during the excursion, and modified accordingly.

How to use the key

Two query interfaces are available:
1) Dichotomous: this is a classical dichotomous key. The path to identification may be long, as the total number of species is high. At any step, you can obtain a textual key (incl. pictures) of the remaining species.
2) Multi-entry: This query interface allows you to specify a set of characters which fit those of your specimen: the result will be a dichotomous key including only the species which share these characters. If you already know the genus, you can also obtain a dichotomous key of all species of that genus (or you can combine the genus name with some other character: e.g. a key to all epiphytic species of Rinodina reacting K+ yellow).
SOME IMPORTANT SUGGESTIONS:
1) Never use two different keys at the same time with the same browser: before using the second key, close the browser and start a new session.
2) If you want to start again the multi-entry interface, select ‘Key home page’ and re-launch the key.
3) When you use the multi-entry interface, select only characters which you are sure of. If you are in doubt, better leave the field empty.

Last modified: February, 22, 2024

Projecy Dryades, Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste - CC BY-SA 4.0