Dichodontium flavescens Yellowish Fork-moss

A dioicous, acrocarpous moss which grows on silt-covered boulders and the bases of trees near upland rivers and streams. Dichodontium pellucidum is similar and also grows in those habitats and the two species are best told apart by the morphology of their sporophyte capsules, which are more or less straight in Dichodontium flavescens and curved in Dichodontium pellucidum. Plants without capsules in riparian habitats cannot be identified reliably and are best recorded as Dichodontium pellucidum sensu lato. Its British distribution suggests that it is an uncommon moss of the west and north of Britain, but its true status is difficuly to assess. The only reliable records in West Glamorgan have been from the Nedd Fechan Valley near Pont Nedd Fechan and Cwm Du near Pontardawe. Sporophyte capsules are produced occasionally.

There is a school of opinion that Dichodontium flavescens should both be regarded simply as a form of Dichodontium pellucidum.