Dicranella
Dioicous. Asexual reproduction sometimes by rhizoidal tubers. Turves or tufts on soil. Stems erect, simple or forked, with rhizoids at bases of branches and stems; central strand present. Leaves lanceolate or subulate, erect- to wide-spreading or squarrose (not in Victoria) and straight or falcate-secund when moist, scarcely altered or flexuose or crisped (not in Victoria) when dry, becoming larger toward apex, all leaves sheathing or only perichaetial leaves sheathing; apex obtuse (not in Victoria), acute, acuminate or subulate; costa subpercurrent to excurrent, often broad and more than 1/3 width of leaf at base; margin entire, or serrulate or serrate (not in Victoria) near apex, plane or recurved; laminal cells oblong, rhomboid, rectangular or linear, smooth, unistratose or rarely bistratose (not in Victoria) on margins. Seta yellow or red, ageing brown, smooth. Capsules erect, inclined or horizontal, symmetric or asymmetric, globose (not in Victoria), ovoid, ellipsoid, obloid or obovoid (not in Victoria), smooth or furrowed, annulus absent or poorly differentiated, or well differentiated, with or without stomata. Calyptra cucullate. Operculum rostrate. Peristome of 16 teeth, divided in apical half or nearly to base.
Cosmopolitan, currently with nearly 220 species (Santos et al. 2021); potentially two species in Victoria.
Dicranella in its current broad circumscription, recognised here, requires extensive revision as many species appear to be misplaced according to phylogenies based on combined chloroplast and mitochondrial DNA sequences (see Dicranellaceae profile). The lineage recovered in these phylogenies that contains the type of Dicranella and would represent Dicranella in a narrower and monophyletic circumscription, so far under limited sampling, comprises species with costae that are excurrent and at least 1/3 the width of the leaf at the base, lower leaves that are not sheathing, capsules that are inclined to horizontal, asymmetric, curved, sulcate when dry, with poorly differentiated annuli, and plants that do not produce rhizoidal tubers (Santos et al. 2021). The Victorian species have not yet been included in molecular phylogenetic investigations, but at least D. dietrichae (Müll.Hal.) A.Jaeger so far seems misplaced in Dicranella given that its lower leaves are distinctly sheathing, it can have erect capsules, and has a conspicuous annulus. Until a thorough revision is undertaken and the phylogenetic position of the Victorian species can be confirmed, both species are tentatively included in Dicranella.
Santos, M.B.; Fedosov, V.; Hartman, T.; Fedorova, A.; Siebel, H.; Stech, M. (2021). Phylogenetic inferences reveal deep polyphyly of Aongstroemiaceae and Dicranellaceae within the haplolepideous mosses (Dicranidae, Bryophyta). Taxon 70: 246–262.
