/ Y i S'
[ 2294 ]
DICRANUM strictura.
Tall Sliining-stalked Fork-moss.
CRYPTOGAMIA Musci.
Gen. Char. Caps, oblong. Fringe o f 16 flat, cloven
teeth, a little inflexed.
Spec. Char. J Stem forked. Leaves ovate, with awl-
shaped points. Capsule cylindrical, furrowed,
in c lin in g . Lid conical.
Syn. Dicranum strictum. Sm. FI. B rit. 1218. Winch,
v. L 103.
D . intermedium. Heclw. Sp. Muse. 138. t. 31. ƒ . 1—6?
Bryum strictum. Hoffm. Germ. v. 2 . 3 6 . Dicks.
Crypt, fa s c . 4. 13.
B . purpureum y . Huds. 483. Hull. 254.
B . polytrichodes palustre, setis longioribus rubris
sericeis. D ill, Muse. 387. t. 49. ƒ . 52.
B. perangustis crebrioribus foliis, capitulis erectis,
longiusculis pediculis e succulis annotinis innas-
centibus. D ill, in R a ii Syn. 9 9 .
Mnium purpureum, var. 2 . With. 802.
O E N T by Mr. Winch, from Prestwick Car in Northumberland.
Many botanists have considered this elegant species as
a mere variety of D. purpureum, t. 2262, from which it dift'ers
in several essential respects.
The stems are generally taller. The leaves are ovate at their
base, but with much longer and more tapering points, that
do not curl so much in drying. The beautiful fruitstalks, like
threads of crimson silk, are an inch and half or two inches
high, and sometimes grow two or three together from one
point. The capsule is much more slender, curved, always
furrowed in all stages of its growth, at least if dried, and tire
base does not exhibit that square contraction observable in
purpureum. The present species moreover grows in boggy
ground, not on walls or dry heaths.—We quote Hedwig here
with doubt, merely because we have seen no authentic specimen
of his D . intermedium.