[ 1989 ] / 6 5"
D I C R A N U M falcatum.
Sickle-leaved Fork-moss.
CRYPTOGAM1A Musci.
G en. Char. Caps, oblong. Fringe of 16 flat, cloven
teeth, a little inflexed.
Spec. Char. S tem g en e ra lly simple. L e av e s bristlesh
ap ed , cu rv e d o n e w ay , sin g le-n erv ed . Capsule
o b o v a te , d ro o p in g , w ith a little swelling b en e a th it.
Syn. D ic ra n um fa lc a tum . Hediy. Sp. Muse. 150.
t. 32. ƒ . 1— 7. Sm. FI. B r it. 1208.
Bryum longifolium. Dicks. Cryp t, fa s c . 3. 7. With.
834. Hull. 264.
Ga fHERED last summer by Messrs, Borrer and Hooker
on the highest summit of Ben Lawers, Scotland, it being one
of the most alpine of our British mosses. Mr. Dickson, who
first found it, mentions its station as about rills of water.
This species has much the aspect of D . heteromallum,
t. 1272, but its leaves are even more sickle-shaped and curved
to one side. The capsule is essentially distinguished by an
oblique, strumose, or gland-like, swelling under its base, and
by the form of thedid, which is awlshaped, not of the fine
setaceous figure of that species, nor is it so long. The capsule
itself is moreover less turgid and not polished. Its form
is sometimes nearly ovate, but generally, from the great width
of the mouth, rather obovate. Veil obtuse.
The real Dicranum longifolium, found in Scotland by Mr.
G. Don since the Flora Rritannica was published, is a very
different plant, having no nerve in the leaf, nor any swelling
under the capsule, not to mention other distinctive marks.