Leskea seligeri Bridel, Muscol. Recent. 2(2): 47. 1801; Dolichotheca seligeri (Bridel) Loeske; Isopterygium seligeri (Bridel) Dixon ex C. E. O. Jensen; Plagiothecium seligeri (Bridel) Lindberg; P. silesianum (F. Weber & D. Mohr) Schimper; Sharpiella seligeri (Bridel) Z. Iwatsuki

Plants in thin mats, light green to yellowish. Stems cm, 1.5-3 mm wide, creeping to ascending. Leaves wide-spreading in several rows, not plicate, 1-2.5 × 0.5-0.9 mm; base not decurrent or 1-3 cells indistinctly decurrent; margins serrulate to serrate; alar cells quadrate to short-rectangular, sometimes rounded to oval and inflated, 17-48 × 12-26 µm, green; basal laminal cell walls pitted, indistinctly pitted distally, sometimes pits absent; medial cells 30-70 × 5-7 µm. Sexual condition autoicous. Seta light brown to red, 1.5-2.5 cm. Capsule inclined, light brown to reddish, cylindric, strongly arcuate, 2-3.5 × 0.5-0.8 mm, contracted below mouth when dry; operculum conic, 0.4-0.6 mm. Spores 12-22µm.

Capsules mature summer. Coniferous or Alnus-Acer woods, rotten logs, base of trees; moderate to high elevations (300-1900 m); Alta., B.C.; Idaho, Mont., Oreg., Wash.; Europe; Asia.

Herzogiella seligeri is distinguished by the wide-spreading leaves that appear in several rows and the long (2-3.5 mm), arcuate capsules. The species occurs in the flora area only in northwestern North America west of the Rocky Mountains at elevations usually below 900 m.