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DICRANUM latifolium.
Broad-leaved Hairy Fork-moss.
CRYPTOGAMIA Musci.
Gen. Char. Caps, oblong. Fringe o f l 6 flat, cloven
teeth, a little inflexed.
S pec. Char. S tem s im p le , sh o rt. L e a v e s elliptic-
o b lo n g , con ca v e , h a ir -p o in te d . C a p su le erect,
c y lin d r ic a l, som ew h a t ova te. L id aw lsh ap ed , short.
S yn. D ic r a n um la tifo lium . Hedw. Sp. Muse. 140.
Crypt, v. 1 . 89. t. 3 3 . Turn. Muse. Hib. 79 ;
e x c lu d in g D ic k s o n ’s syn .
Gr ATHERED by the late Dr. Scott, upon banks in Ireland.
The original specimens of D. latifolium were given to the younger
Linnaeus by Mr. Dickson, and came from North America, not
from Lapland. The counter part of these remain in the Linnaean
herbarium.
Hedwig, by attending to the stems, which though very short
are not all of one year’s growth, judged this mosS to be perennial.
They compose dense tufts. The leaves are crowded, light green, a
little spreading, elliptical and rather oblong, concave, entire,
slightly revolute, their strong midrib ending in a long white hair.
When dry they become twisted or folded together. Fruitstalks
solitary, an inch long, tawny, shining, twisted when dry. Capsule
erect, nearly cylindrical, or slightly ovate, smooth, light
brown. Lid conical, blunt, nearly straight, about a quarter the
length of the capsule; Mr. Turner by mistake describes it of
equal length. The fringe is so pale, delicate, and deeply cloven,
that this excellent botanist rightly judges it rather to indicate a
Trichostomum. We retain the plant in Dicranum merely out of
deference, in a doubtful question, to so great a man as Hedwig.
We cannot agree with Mr. Turner as to this being Trichostomum
piliferum of FI. Brit, the capsule of which is very short, and
the leaves taper-pointed-.