Dicranum enerve Thedenius in C. J. Hartman, Handb. Skand. Fl. ed. 5, 393. 1849; D. albicans Schwägrichen

Plants whitish green to yellowish green. Stems 1-5 (-10) cm. Leaves erect-spreading to falcate-secund, 2-8 × 0.5-1 mm, entire or with a few serrulations near apex; costa covering ca. ⁹/10 or more of leaf base, smooth on abaxial surface, in cross section with a row of adaxial hyalocysts, a row of median chlorocysts and a row of abaxial hyalocysts. Seta 10-20 mm. Capsule 2-3 mm; operculum 1-1.5 mm. Spores 15-20 µm.

Capsules mature summer. Usually on soil or soil over boulders, noncalcareous outcrops and cliffs, sometimes in bogs and fens, rarely on stream banks; (150-4300 m); Greenland; Alta., B.C., N.W.T., Yukon; Alaska, Ariz., Colo., Mont., N.Mex., Utah, Wyo.; Mexico; Europe; Asia.

Paraleucobryum enerve is best distinguished from P. longifolium by its whitish green to yellowish green color, nearly smooth leaf margins that occasionally have a few teeth near the apex, and smooth costa. Sporophytes are more rarely produced than they are by P. longifolium.