Anisothecium palustre (Dicks.) I. Hagen, Kongel. Norske Vidensk. Selsk. Skr. (Trondheim) 1914(1): 35. 1915. Dicranum squarrosum Schrad., J. Bot. (Schrader) 1801(1): 68. 1803. Dicranella squarrosa (Schrad.) Schimp., Syn. Musc. Euro. 71. 1860. Anisothecium squarrosum (Schrad.) Lindb., Musci Scand. 26, 1879.

Plants medium-sized to large, (1–)3–8 cm high, light to yellowish green, somewhat shiny, in deep, loose tufts. Stems erect or ascending, sparsely radiculose below, branched by innovations. Leaves squarrose or squarrose-recurved from an erect, oblong to obovate base, 2–3 mm long, subtubulose, more or less twisted when dry, concave when moist, gradually narrowed to a rounded or obtuse, cucullate apex, rarely acute at the apex; margins plane or somewhat undulate in the upper part, entire or irregularly crenulate at the apex, decurrent at base; costa slender, subpercurrent, smooth at back; upper cells short- to long-rectangular, 35–125 µm × 9–14 µm, thin-walled; lower cells becoming longer near the costa and insertion, shorter and wider near the alar region. Dioicous. Perichaetial leaves not much differentiated from the upper stem leaves. Setae straight, 1.5–1.8 cm long, dark reddish; capsules ca. 1.5 mm long, oblong-ovoid, inclined, curved and asymmetric, nearly smooth when dry; opercula stoutly short-rostrate, slightly curved, ca. 0.8 mm long; annuli absent or poorly developed, in 1 row of small cells; peristome teeth lanceolate, divided nearly to the middle, reddish. Spores ca. 25 µm in diameter, minutely roughened.

Type. Scotland.

Chinese specimens examined: JILIN: Chang-bai Shan (Mt.), X.-W. Kong s.n. (IFSBH). LIAONING: Feng-cheng Co., X.-W. Kong s.n. (IFSBH).

Habitat: on wet soil in seeps or near roadsides and open fields; Distribution: China, Japan, Russia, Europe, and North America.

Illustrations: C. Gao (ed.) 1994 (Pl. 57, figs. 12–19).