DICRANUM. 103 



Distinguished from D. falcatum by the distinct auricles ; from D. schisti by the 

 characters detailed under that plant ; it is usually a larger plant than either, with 

 looser, longer leaves, secund but not so regularly falcate as in the former, and the 

 capsule is quite different. It is, however, in several respects a rather variable plant, 

 usually growing in more open spots than D. schisti. 



4. Dicranum schisti Lindb. (Bryum schisti Gunn. ; 

 Dicranum Blyttii B. & S., Schp. Syn., et plur. auct.) 



(Tab. XVII. E.). 



Differs from the last in its darker, lurid colour, stems more 

 slender, branched, fragile ; the leaves flexuose-patent, hardly 

 secund, less rigid, somewhat crisped when dry, entire or almost 

 so, smaller ; capsule shorter, smooth, paler. Male flower far 

 below the perichxtium, usually near the base of the branch. 



Hab. Clefts of mountain rocks, not common. Fr. summer. 



Very near D. Starkei, and perhaps properly a sub-species, but differing in habit, 

 colour, in the smooth capsule, and especially in the position of the male flower. 



5. Dicranum molle Wils. (D. arcticum Schp., Syn.) 



(Tab. XVII. F.). 



Taller than D. Starkei, with which it has considerable affinity ; 

 2-5 inches high, yellowish or olive green above, dark brown 

 below, in large, soft tufts ; leaves long, straight and erecto- 

 patent, or slightly secund, rarely falcato-secund ; from a broadly 

 lanceolate base longly subulate with the margins incurved, entire, 

 acute at apex ; nerve very narrow, hardly excurrent ; angular 

 cells distinct, large, orange brown, forming distinct auricles ; the 

 other basal cells long, narrow-linear, with the cell-walls 

 interrupted by pores, upper cells linear or narrowly and sinuosely 

 elliptical. Capsule oblong-cylindric, incurved, cernuous, slightly 

 strumose, smooth ; peristome dark red. Male flower close to the 

 perichaetium. 



Hab. On the highest Scotch mountains ; very rare. Fr. summer. 



D. molle seems best placed in this Section, to which it belongs by the form of 

 leaf, the sub-strumose capsule, the autoicous inflorescence, and the non-radiculose 

 stems, and indeed by its general nearness to D. Starkei ; but its size and habit is 

 almost that of D. fuscescens or small forms of D. Bonjeani, and in the porose cell- 

 walls also it comes close to Eu-dicranum. Wilson (Bry. Brit.) treats it as a var. of 

 £>. Starkei, to which it bears much resemblance in its smaller forms with secund 

 leaves ; but the leaves are distinctly larger, broader as well as longer, the areolation 

 is different, and the lamina of the subula is continuous to the apex and broader. The 

 stems are soft and flexible, whence the name given to it by Wilson. The leaves are 

 hardly twisted or altered when drying, by which it may usually be distinguished in the 

 field from D. fuscescens, but some forms of that species, especially the var. congestum, 

 are hardly separable from it without the microscope, though perfectly distinct when so 

 viewed ; and the same may be said of D. scoparium var. spadiceum. 



