E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

Species description:
The genus name refers to the forked peristome teeth; the spe­cies name to becoming brown with age.

Reproduction:
Sporophytes frequent, maturing in spring, dark brown when mature.

Distinguishing characteristics:
The dull green plants with leaves that are twisted when dry, added to the brown, somewhat grooved, mature, dry sporangium are useful features to separate D. fuscescens from the many variable species of Dicranum found in the province.

Habit:
Forming tufts or turfs of dark green plants.

Similar Species:
Of the many species of Dicranum, D. pallidisetum is most similar and, in vegetative characteristics, is not easy to separate from D. fuscescens. In D. pallidisetum, however, the consistently yellow seta and paler brown sporangium, added to the leaves that are not so strongly twisted, when dry, as in D. fuscescens, are usually reliable features, especially in combination with the usual restriction of D. pal­lidisetum to subalpine forest and heath slopes. D. pallidisetum is commonly terrestrial. Paraleucobryum and Dicranodontium both are somewhat glossy, although they are similar in form to D. fuscescens. The same is true for Ditrichum crispatissimum, a species confined mainly to calcareous cliffs.