DIC RAN UM glaucum.
White Fork-moss.
CRYPTOGAMIA Musci.
G en. Char. Caps, oblong. Fringe o f 16 flat, clovea
teeth, a little inflexed.
Spec. Char. Stem branched, level-topped. Leaves
imbricated, pvato-lanceolate, ribless, whitish. Capsule
ovate, furrowed.
Syn. Dicranum glaucum. Hedw. Sp. Muse. 135.
Sm. FI. Brit. 1216. Sibth. 281. Turn. Muse.
Hib. 73.'
Brvum glaucum. Linn. Sp. PI. 1582. Huds. 479.
Hull. 263. Abbot. 239. Lighif. 723. Ehrh.
Crypt. 4.
B. albidutn et glaucum fragile majus, foliis erectis,
setis brevibus. Dill. Muse. 362. t. 46. f . 20.
B. trichoides erectis capitulis, albidum fragile. Rail
Syn. 97.
Mnium glaucum. With. 801 !
D r y mountainous stony heaths and pastures produce
abundance of Dicranum glaucum, the'great white patches of
which are often very conspicuous, but the fruit is rare. The
remarkable spongy, bibulous, light, elastic habit of the
leaves is exactly that of a Sphagnum, and totally unlike all
British mosses besides. The stems are branched, crowded,
level-topped, 2, 3 or 4 inches high, lasting many years.
Leaves opaque, closely imbricated, ovato-lanceolate, rather
concave, entire, bluntish with a little point; the young ones
almost white ; the rest pale brownish ; all destitute of rib or
veins, but finely cellular, brittle when dry. Fruitstalks rather
above half an inch high, brownish red, not very straight.
Capsule ovate, short, brown, furrowed, inclining and curved,
the mouth dilated when oldl Fringe red. Lid as long as
the capsule, red, awlshaped, curved, acute.
No moss can be better calculated for packing than this,
where it is easily to be had.