Aspicilia alpina (Sommerf.) Arnold
Lecanora alpina Sommerf., Suppl. fl. lappon.: 91 (1826).
Thallus dull grey-fawn or olive-grey or blue-grey, ± orbicular or spreading irregularly among other lichens, 2-5 cm diam., saxicolous, conspicuously areolate-cracked, areolae convex, angular 0.2-0.6 mm diam., ± dispersed and subsquamulose-effigurate at margins, separated by deeply gaping cracks, black prothallus visible between cracks and at margins. Medulla I+ blue. Apothecia 0.1-1 mm diam., 1-4 per areole, round to irregular to ± angular, red-brown to brown-black, matt or somewhat roughened, innate at first becoming plane and ± sessile in older fruits, thalline margin thin, concolorous with thallus. Hypothecium colourless. Paraphyses simple, not moniliform. Ascospores (8-)9-13(-15) × 5-8 µm. Chemistry: Medulla I+ blue, K+ yellow-red, C- KC+ red, Pd+ orange. Norstictic acid (often only in trace amounts).
S: Canterbury (Mt Cook, summit rocks). High-alpine on rock.
Bipolar
Separated from A. cinerea by the red-brown apothecia, lack of moniliform paraphyses and the I+ blue medulla.
