Hypnum rufescens Bridel, Muscol. Recent. 2(2): 95. 1801

Plants large, in mats, reddish to brownish. Stems 4-10 cm, 3 mm wide, erect or ascending, sparingly branched. Leaves ± appressed when dry, erect-spreading when moist, straight, linear -lanceolate, strongly plicate, 3 mm; ; margins plane, entire; apex slenderly long-acuminate; ecostate; basal laminal cells shorter than medial cells, golden brown; medial cells linear, 65-85 × 4-5 µm. Specialized asexual reproduction absent. Sporophytes unknown.

Moist tundra, soil, granite, limestone, schist; low to high elevations (0-1700 m); Greenland; N.W.T., Nunavut, Yukon; Alaska; Europe; Asia.

Orthothecium rufescens, like O. chryseum, is large and robust with distinctly plicate leaves, but can be distinguished by the reddish color and slenderly acuminate leaves.