Pohlia inclinata Swartz ex Bridel, Muscol. Recent. 2(3): 144. 1803; Bryum amblyodon Müller Hal.; B. stenotrichum Müller Hal.; Cladodium inclinatum (Swartz ex Bridel) Bridel

Plants in dense or open turfs or scattered individuals, green, red-green, or yellow-green. Stems0.5-2(-3) cm, tufted, comose, innovations elongate and evenly foliate; often strongly radiculose. Leaves yellow-green to red-green, weakly to strongly contorted or shrunken when dry, ovate-lanceolate, weakly concave, (0.6-)1-2(-3) mm, enlarged toward stem apex; base not decurrent; margins revolute to mid leaf, limbidium strong, in 2 or 3 rows; apex acuminate; costa long-excurrent, awn smooth to denticulate; proximal laminal cells 3-4:1, same width or narrower than more distal cells; medial and distal cells rhomboidal, 12-18 µm wide, 3-4:1, walls thin. Specialized asexual reproduction absent. Sexual condition synoicous. Seta 1-3 cm. Capsule brown, short to long pyriform, symmetric, 2-4 mm, mouth , orange or yellow; operculum short-convex, apiculate; peristome somewhat reduced; exostome teeth yellow basally, hyaline distally, lamellae straight to curved mid tooth, pores absent along mid line; endostome sometimes adherent to exostome, basal membrane high, 1/2 exostome height, segments with ovate perforations, cilia rudimentary or sometimes 1 or 2, long, appendiculate to nodose. Spores (18-)20-24 µm, finely papillose, pale yellow or green.

Capsules mature Jun-Aug. Dry soil, alpine or arctic tundra, circumpolar arctic-alpine; low to high elevations (0-4400 m); Greenland; Alta., B.C., Nfld. and Labr., N.W.T., N.S., Nunavut, Ont., P.E.I., Que., Yukon; Alaska, Calif., Colo., Idaho, Maine, Mich., Minn., Mont., Nev., N.Y., Oreg., Utah, Wash., Wyo.; South America; Eurasia; Antarctica.

Ptychostomum inclinatum is a widespread common arctic-alpine species, closely related to P. archangelicum, differing in its larger size, occasional presence of cilia, and smaller, paler spores.