A rare mountain species which resembles the common H. physodes. However, it differs in the conspicuously brown thallus margins and capitate soralia on side lobes. The lichen has a circumpolar distribution in the boreal zone and mountains of the northern hemisphere. It occurs also in South America and east Africa. In central Europe, the species is common, for example, in the Alps. It grows on acidic bark of mainly conifers in mountain spruce and peat forests. It meets its optimum near the upper tree line. Occasionally, the lichen may be found on wood or siliceous rocks. In the Czech Republic, Hypogymnia bitteri is very rare, reported only from the Šumava Mts, Krkonoše Mts, Českomoravská vysočina uplands (historically; Liška & Pišút 1995) and once from blackthorn in the foothills of the Doupovské hory Mts.
Literature: Liška J. & Pišút I. (1995): Lišajníky. − In: Kotlaba F. [ed.], Červená kniha ohrozených a vzácnych druhov rastlín a živočíchov SR a ČR 4. – Príroda, Bratislava, p. 120−156.
taxonomic classification:Ascomycota → Lecanoromycetes → Lecanorales → Parmeliaceae → Hypogymnia
Red List (Liška & Palice 2010):CR – critically endangered
Red List (Malíček 2023):C1 – critically endangered
Occurrence in the Czech Republic
All records: 4, confirmed 4. One click on a selected square displays particular record(s), including their source(s).