Bryum systylium Müller Hal., Syn. Musc. Frond. 1: 320. 1848

Plants in dense cushions or turfs, green-silver to pink-silver. Stems0.4-2 cm. Leaves erect when moist, spathulate to somewhat elongate-ovate, concave, 0.3-2 mm; margins serrulate to serrate near apex, limbidium absent; apex broadly rounded to acute, not hyaline; costa percurrent in proximal leaves to long-excurrent in distal leaves, awn pigmented proximally, hyaline distally, weakly to strongly recurved when dry; distal laminal cells green, hexagonal to rhomboidal, 40-60 µm, 3-4+:1, walls not thick or sinuate. [Capsule cylindric, 2-4 mm; hypophysis well differentiated, somewhat expanded and rugose. Spores 17-25 µm].

Tree trunks, especially Quercus, rock, soil; low to high elevations (0-2000 m); Ariz., Fla., N.Mex., N.C., Tex.; Mexico; Central America; South America; Asia (India, Java); Africa.

The shiny pale yellow-green to pink-tinged plants of Leptostomopsis systylia are found primarily on tree trunks. This pantropical to subtropical species is much more common and widespread than L. nivea, and the two can be readily distinguished by laminal cell differences.