ITALIC 8.0

Ramalina elegans (Bagl. & Carestia) Stizenb.

Jahresber. Naturf. Ges. Graubündens, n.F. 34: 91, 1891. Basionym: Ramalina calicaris var. elegans Bagl. & Carestia - Atti Soc. Critt. Ital., 2: 159, 1880.

Synonyms:

Distribution: N - TAA, Piem (Isocrono & al. 2004). C - Abr.

Description: Thallus fruticose, pale yellowish green, to 5 cm tall, erect to ascending, firmly attached by a basal holdfast, richly dichotomously branched, forming shrubby, markedly rigid (also when wet) tufts. Branches usually compressed and partly fistulose-inflated, 1-2(-3) mm wide at base, the sterile ones often pointed and sometimes blackened at apex, with scattered perforations and rarely with a few linear pseudocyphellae. Cortex 2-layered, the outer part paraplectenchymatous, moderately thick, the inner part with chondroid strands; medulla white, very lax, especially below the apothecia. Apothecia frequent, lecanorine, with a greenish disc and a thin, smooth thalline margin, mostly terminal or subterminal on smaller branches, subtended by a short, pointed spur. Epithecium pale olive; hymenium and hypothecium colourless; paraphyses thick-walled, richly branched in upper part. Asci 8-spored, clavate to cylindrical-clavate, the apical dome K/I+ dark blue with a pale, conical-pointed apical cushion (axial mass) never penetrating through the entire d-layer, the wall K/I-, but the thin outer gel K/I+ blue, Bacidia-type. Ascospores 1-septate, hyaline, straight or curved, 11-16(-17) x (4-)5-7 µm. Photobiont: chlorococcoid. Spot tests: thallus and medulla K-, C-, KC-, P-. Chemistry: cortex with usnic acid; medulla with homosekikaic and sekikaic acids.

Note: on bark of old deciduous trees, more rarely on conifers, in very humid, open montane forests; a lichen which deserves further study. It was included in the Italian red list of epiphytic lichens as “Data Deficient” (Nascimbene & al. 2013c).

Growth form: Fruticose

Substrata: bark

Photobiont: green algae other than Trentepohlia

Reproductive strategy: mainly sexual

Poorly known taxon in need of further study

Commonnes-rarity: (info)

Alpine belt: absent

Subalpine belt: extremely rare

Oromediterranean belt: absent

Montane belt: extremely rare

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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5

(info)

Solar irradiation:

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5

(info)

Aridity:

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5

(info)

Eutrophication:

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5

(info)

Poleotolerance:

0

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3

(info)

Altitudinal distribution:

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6

(info)

Predictive model

Index Fungorum GBIF

Dr. Amadej Trnkoczy; Owner: Dr. Amadej Trnkoczy – From Calphotos http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?enlarge=0000+0000+1208+1010 2008-11-05

Slovenia, Zapodn place, Zadnja Trenta valley, the meadow next to Fijori farm house, altitude 960 m (3,150 feet), alpine phytogeographical region, East Julian Alps