Placynthium asperellum (Ach.) Trevis.

Sched. ad Lich. Ven. Exs.: nr. 98, 1869. Basionym: Collema asperellum Ach. - Lichenogr. Univ.: 629, 1810.
Synonyms: Catillaria subalpina Th. Fr.; Placynthium aspratile (Ach.) Henssen; Placynthium vrangianum Gyeln.; Pterygium asperellum (Ach.) Nyl.; Toninia asperella (Ach.) A. Massal.
Distribution: N - Lomb.
Description: Thallus crustose to subsquamulose, dark olive-brown to almost black, somehow glossy, forming 0.3-2.5 cm wide, irregular rosettes, the central parts densely papillose-granulose to isidiate, the margins usually with 1-1.5 mm long, 0.1-0.2 mm wide, irregularly radiating, separate, loosely attached and partly ascending, subcylindrical to subcanaliculate lobules, usually without a distinct prothallus. Thallus section with parallel, longitudinally arranged hyphae forming a cellular pattern. Apothecia lecideine, semi-immersed to sessile, up to 1 mm across, with a black, concave to finally convex disc and a thin, finally sometimes excluded proper margin. Proper exciple dark-brown; epithecium dark greenish brown; hymenium colourless, up to 100 µm high, amyloid; paraphyses sparingly branched, the apical cells thickened; hypothecium brownish. Asci (4-)8-spored, with an amyloid cap-like structure. Ascospores (1-)3-septate, hyaline, ellipsoid, 10-20(-25) x 4.5-7 µm. Pycnidia immersed, mostly marginal, subglobose, up to 0.15 mm wide. Conidia cylindrical or party dumbbell-shaped, hyaline, 4.5-8 x c. 1 µm. Photobiont cyanobacterial, Scytonema-like. Spot tests: all negative. Chemistry: without lichen substances.
Note: on moist calciferous and base-rich siliceous rocks in upland areas; the single record from the Italian Alps requires confirmation.
Growth form: Crustose
Substrata: rocks
Photobiont: cyanobacteria, filamentous (e.g. Nostoc, Scytonema)
Reproductive strategy: mainly asexual, by isidia, or isidia-like structures (e.g. schizidia)

Commonnes-rarity: (info)

Alpine belt: very rare
Subalpine belt: very rare
Oromediterranean belt: absent
Montane belt: absent
Submediterranean belt: absent
Padanian area: absent
Humid submediterranean belt: absent
Humid mediterranean belt: absent
Dry mediterranean belt: absent

pH of the substrata:

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Solar irradiation:

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Aridity:

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Eutrophication:

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Poleotolerance:

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Altitudinal distribution:

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Predictive model


P.L. Nimis; Owner: Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste
Herbarium: TSB (28410)
2003/03/12



Curtis Randall Björk – CC BY-SA 4.0
Northwest Territories, near MacKay Lake Date: 2011-08-02 On rock in periodically flooded depression, brushy tundra