Silky Forklet Moss

In Great Britain and/or Ireland:
Plant / associate
fruitbody of Cyphellostereum laeve is associated with gametophyte of Dicranella heteromalla

Foodplant / parasite
solitary apothecium of Helotium fulvum parasitises Dicranella heteromalla
Other: major host/prey

Dicranella heteromalla is a common species recognized by suberect, obliquely furrowed capsules tapered toward the base and oblique at the mouth. The leaf margins are distinctly toothed above the middle. Reports for Oklahoma are by B. D. Mahler and W. F. Mahler (1980) and from Texas by E. Whitehouse and F. McAllister (1954).

Plants to 10, rarely 40 mm, in rather shiny, yellow to dark green tufts. Leaves erect to falcate-secund, 2-3 mm, gradually narrowed from a lanceolate base to a subula largely occupied by the costa; margins erect, serrulate in the distal half of the limb; costa excurrent; cells in 1-3 rows above the leaf middle, rather short-rectangular, 11-14 × 4-7 µm. Sexual condition dioicous. Seta 5-15 mm, yellowish. Capsule 1-1.5 mm, suberect or sometimes inclined to horizontal, cylindric, often curved, asymmetric, tapered at the neck, usually ± obliquely furrowed and constricted on 1 side below an oblique mouth; annulus consisting of 1 row of small cells, persistent; operculum long-rostrate; peristome teeth 400-500 µm, divided ¹/2 length distally. Spores 14-18 µm, faintly roughened.

Dicranum heteromallum Hedwig, Sp. Musc. Frond., 128. 1801; Campylopus henrici Renauld & Cardot; Dicranella fitzgeraldii Renauld & Cardot; D. heteromalla var. latinervis Cardot & Thériot; D. heteromalla var. orthocarpa (Hedwig) A. Jaeger & Sauerbeck; Dicranum orthocarpum Hedwig

Dicranella heteromalla (X.) Schimp. Coroll. Bryol
Eur. 13. 1855.
Bryum heteromallum L. Sp. PI. 1118. 1753. Dicranum orthocarpum Hedw. Sp. Muse. 131. 1801. Dicranella Fitzgeraldi Ren. & Card. Bot. Gaz. 13: 197. 1888. Campylopus Henrici Ren. & Card. Bot. Gaz. 13: 197. 1888.
Plants in dense, dark-green tufts or broad mats, with more or less branching stems mostly 1-4 cm. high and leaves somewhat erect-flexuous or usually appressed and curved-secund: stem-leaves from a lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate base, gradually narrowed to a rough subulate point formed by the excurrent costa, the leaf -blade only 1-3 cells wide above the middle of the leaf on either side and serrulate nearly to the base; costa about 70 p wide at the base, one third of the width of the leaf -base and serrulate on the back in the upper part; leaf-cells rectangular, 2—6 times as long as wide, with slightly thickened, colored walls extending to the base; perichaetial leaves from a broader, more or less obovate, clasping base abruptly narrowed to a slender, rough subula 4-6 times as long as the clasping part, with the lower leaf-cells broader and less regular: seta erect or curved, yellowish, 5-15 mm., rarely up to 30 mm. long: capsule erect or nodding, 1-3 mm. long, ovoid to cylindric, usually more or less curved and
i f i — ■. . — — ■ ■■ * m i— »■ ■ ■ ■ ■ "ii ■ ■ — . ■■ — ■■ ■ — » «i « ■ — ■*—— —— ~— — — — -
becoming furrowed a nd cont racted under the oblique mo uth when dry and empty ; exothecal cells excepting two or three rows of small, obscure cells just below the mouth, irregular, elongate, with very unequally thickened, sinuous walls; lid conic, longand obliquely-rostrate; annulus imperfect, of a single row of small, roundish, hyaline, loosely cohering cells; peristome-teeth up to 80 p wide at the base, red, striate, usually divided one half down into two papilose forks, the inner lamellae prominent, regular, about 20 p apart, and the basal membrane scarcely projecting above the mouth: spores smooth, up to 17 p in diameter.
Type; locality: England.
Distribution: Newfoundland to Florida and Alaska to California and Costa Rica; also in