Dicranales

(botany) An order of mosses having erect stems, dichotomous branching, and dense foliation.

A large and diverse order of the true mosses (Bryopsida), containing 13 families. Plants in the Dicranales generally have long, narrow leaves, and the peristome (rarely lacking) commonly consists of 16 papillose or vertically pitted-striate teeth. The plants are erect and simple or merely forked and often woolly because of a dense covering of rhizoids among the leaves. See also Bryidae; Bryophyta; Bryopsida.