A relatively common terricolous species, growing in the Czech Republic from lowlands to mountains on nutrient-poor sandy soils in dry grasslands, heathlands, open forests and even on a bare soil. Its range is nearly cosmopolitan. Although it occurs in all zones except for tropics, the most common it is in the temperate. According to a recent study (Lutsak et al. 2020) both newly recognised subspecies, the nominate one and subsp. steppae, occur in the country. The second mentioned subspecies differs in a thicker cortex and norstictic acid content, which is completely absent in C. aculeata.
Literature: Lutsak T., Fernández-Mendoza F., Kirika P., Wondafrash M. & Printzen C. (2020): Coalescence-based species delimitation using genome-wide data reveals hidden diversity in a cosmopolitan group of lichens. – Organisms Diversity and Evolution 20: 189–218.
taxonomic classification:Ascomycota → Lecanoromycetes → Lecanorales → Parmeliaceae → Cetraria
Red List (Liška & Palice 2010):NT – near threatened
Occurrence in the Czech Republic
All records: 363, confirmed 127. One click on a selected square displays particular record(s), including their source(s).