Leskea intricata Hartman, Handb. Skand. Fl. ed. 5, 336. 1849

Plants small, in mats or tufts, green to yellow-green. Stems 4 cm, 0.2-0.3 mm wide, curved-ascending, sometimes creeping, irregularly branched. Leaves erect to erect-spreading, homomallous, narrowly lanceolate, not or faintly striolate, 1-1.8 mm; margins plane to somewhat revolute, entire or somewhat sinuate; apex gradually subulate; ecostate or costa double, very short; basal laminal cells shorter, broader than medial cells, yellow; medial cells elongate, linear, 45-75 × 4-6µm. Specialized asexual reproduction rare, by propagula in leaf axils, short, filamentous. Seta red-brown. Capsule symmetric, 1.5-2 mm. Spores 10-14 µm.

Moist shaded calcareous soil, granite, schist, limestone, rock ledges, vertical cliff faces, tundra; moderate elevations (200-1500 m); Greenland; B.C., N.W.T., Nunavut, Que., Yukon; Alaska; n Europe; Asia (China, Japan).

Orthothecium intricatum is distinguished by leaves that are homomallous and narrowly lanceolate, with plane to slightly revolute margins. The stems are yellow-brown; the leaves are occasionally twisted-flexuose when dry; and the setae are 1.5-2 cm. Sporophytes are rare, and a station in Ontario is doubtful.