Dicranum tauricum Sapehin, Bot. Jahrb. 46, Beibl. 105: 10. 1911.
Orthodicranum strictum (Mohr) Broth., Laubm. Fennosk. 92. 1923. -- Dicranum strictum Schleich. ex Mohr, Ann. Rot. 2: 546. 1806.
Plants in light to dark green tufts or cushions to 4 cm high, rather glossy to almost lustreless, with the tips of most of the older leaves caducous. Leaves erect spreading wet or dry, not at all crispate when dry, secund or not, concave at the base and keeled to subtubular inrolled above, to 5 mm long, 8–12: 1, broadest immediately above the base, not plicate, lanceolate to linear lanceolate. Leaf lamina unistratose throughout or with bistratose streaks above, with median cells mostly short rectangular, to 12 µm wide, 1.2–4: 1, smooth, in regular rows, not pitted. Suprabasal cells, rectangular, to 8: 1, not well demarcated from the alar cells. Alar cells yellow brown, to 30 µm broad, pellucid but rather thick walled, at least in part quadrate. Costa filling about 1/5 of leaf at base, tapering and excurrent in the subulate apex. Costa cross-section with ad- and abaxial bands of substereids; with guide cells well demarcated but without well demarcated epidermises. Margin plane to ascending throughout, entire or with a few serrulations near apex. Rhizoids white to light brown, to 15 µm wide at base, smooth, sparingly branched, arising on stem from immediately below leaf insertion. Stem cross-section with central strand inconspicuous; with large and leptodermous interior cells and with only a slight differentiation of a partial layer of smaller pachydermous outer cortical cells.
Dioicous with male and female plants similar. Perigonia terminal or both terminal and lateral in a periapical cluster. Perichaetial leaves erect to spreading, similar to adjacent vegetative leaves. Consistently monosetous with the seta to 25 mm, yellow brown, straight and smooth. Urn erect and symmetrical, cylindrical, to 2.5 mm long, about 3–4: 1, often irregularly wrinkled but neither sulcate nor strumose. Operculum rostrate, about 2/3 as long as urn. Annulus essentially undifferentiated. Peristome red-brown, inserted slightly below capsule mouth, to 300 µm long, divided below the middle into almost filiform segments, smooth to vertically low striate but occasionally papillose distally. Exothecial cells to 25 µm wide, in regular vertical rows, quite irregular in size and shape, rectangular 1–3: 1, rather thick walled with lumen/wall ratio about 2: 1. Spores to 15 µm, smooth to lightly papillose.
This plant can be quite variable in both size and the degree of falcation of its leaves, In general, strongly falcate leaves can be found only on small plants growing on rotten logs. Its typical habitat is rotten logs and stumps but the largest plants (sometimes to 10 cm high are found on calcareous rocks in seepages at rather high elevations. These latter can have the leaves so strict that one is reminded of the more northern Dicranum elongatum Schleich. ex Schwaegr.
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