Silky Forklet Moss

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
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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