Dicranum gracilescens var. alpestre (Wahl.) Hüb., Musc. Germ., p. 255. 1833. Oncophorus alpestris Lindb., Musci Scand., 27. 1879. Cnestrum alpestre (Wahl.) Nyholm, Bot. Not. 1953.

Plants small, 1–3(–4) cm high, dark green to yellowish brown or brown, in dense tufts. Stems erect, simple or branched, radiculose below. Leaves 1–3 mm long, crispate when dry, narrowly lanceolate, gradually acuminate from a narrow base, acute or blunt; margins slightly recurved from the middle to the base, bistratose, subentire or serrulate in the upper half; costa subpercurrent, slightly roughened on the back above; upper cells subquadrate, 7–10 µm wide, variously papillose, sometimes almost smooth; lower cells rectangular, smooth, thin-walled; alar cells not differentiated. Autoicous. Perigonia sessile, bracts oblong-ovate, rounded-obtuse at the apex. Setae erect, 5–6 mm long, yellowish; capsules suberect, symmetric, not strumose, oblong-cylindric, 1.0–1.5 mm long, 8-ribbed, somewhat constricted when dry; opercula obliquely long-rostrate; annuli not developed; peristome teeth reddish, divided about halfway down, vertically striate below, papillose above. Spores 17–20 µm in diameter, smooth to finely papillose.

Type. Norway: Lapland.

Chinese specimens examined: JILIN: Changbai Shan (Mt.), C. Gao 2187, 17154 (IFSBH).

Habitat: on rocks or soil over rocks; Distribution: China, Russia (Siberia), Europe, and North America.

Illustrations: C. Gao (ed.) 1994 (Pl. 92, figs. 1–7).