ITALIC 8.0

Umbilicaria cinerascens (Arnold) Frey

Hedwigia, 71: 115, 1931. Basionym: Gyrophora cinerascens Arnold - Verh. zool.-bot. Ges. Wien, 25: 438, 1875.

Synonyms:

Distribution: N - TAA, Lomb, Piem (Isocrono & al. 2004), VA (S- F215845).

Description: Thallus foliose-umbilicate, heteromerous, dorsiventral, usually polyphyllous, 3-4 cm wide, 0.1-0.3 mm thick, rigid, attached by a central holdfast. Lobes ascending in the center, more or less adpressed towards margins, moderately incised, with undulate and perforated margins which sometimes have an eroded cortex. Upper surface mouse-grey, sometimes with cinnamon brown patches, dull, smooth to slightly rimose; lower surface black, sometimes dark grey along the margins, erhizinate, distinctly areolate only around the umbilicus, almost completely (except around the umbilicus) covered in simple to rarely 1-3-septate, dark brown, spherical to rarely ovoid thalloconidia measuring c. 8 x 7 µm. Upper cortex palisade-plectenchymatous, 10-15 μm thick, with a discontinuous necrotic layer; medulla white; lower cortex scleroplectenchymatous, 15–35 µm thick, dark brown. Apothecia very rare (not observed in Italian material), black, leiodisc. Epithecium brown; hymenium colourless; paraphyses simple or sparingly branched, septate, the apical cells more or less swollen; hypothecium thick, dark. Asci 8-spored, elongate-clavate, thick-walled, with an amyloid apical dome, Umbilicaria-type. Ascospores simple, hyaline, ellipsoid, 7-12 x 5.5.-8.5 μm. Photobiont chlorococcoid. Spot tests: cortex K-, C-, KC-, P-; medulla K-, C+ red, KC+ red, P-. Chemistry: medulla with gyrophoric acid.

Note: on steeply inclined, often north-facing surfaces of siliceous rocks, mostly in small colonies, with optimum above treeline reaching the nival belt; almost certainly restricted to the Alps in Italy.

Growth form: Foliose, umbilicate

Substrata: rocks

Photobiont: green algae other than Trentepohlia

Reproductive strategy: mainly asexual, by conidia and thalloconidia

Commonnes-rarity: (info)

Alpine belt: very rare

Subalpine belt: extremely 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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5

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Solar irradiation:

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5

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Aridity:

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Eutrophication:

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Poleotolerance:

0

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Altitudinal distribution:

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Predictive model

Herbarium samples

Andres Saag - Source: http://www.eseis.ut.ee/LichenPhoto_2200/Umbilicaria_cinerascens_a3.jpg

Frey E. 1933. Cladoniaceae (unter Ausschluß ded Gattung Cladonia) und Umbilicariaceae. In: Rabenhrst’s Kryptogamenflora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz. 15: 1-208.