Leskea recurvans Michaux, Fl. Bor.-Amer. 2: 311. 1803; Brotherella delicatula (James) M. Fleischer; Rhynchostegium delicatulum James

Plants medium-sized, in dense mats, pale green to yellow-green. Stems 2-6 cm, 1.5-2 mm wide across main leafy shoot, markedly complanate-foliate, subpinnate to irregularly branched, strongly falcate-secund toward substrate at stem and branch apices; pseudoparaphyllia narrowly to lanceolate-filamentous. Leaves falcate-secund, ovate, tapering to apex, 1-1.5 mm; margins toothed in acumen; alar cells 3 or 4, yellowish. Sexual condition dioicous. Seta light brown, 1-1.5 cm. Capsule inclined, oblong-cylindric, somewhat asymmetric; operculum short-rostrate.

Capsules mature late fall. Logs, humus, tree trunks, rock, forests; low to high elevations; N.B., Nfld. and Labr. (Nfld.), N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que.; Ala., Conn., Ga., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Mo., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Pa., S.C., Tenn., Vt., Va., W.Va., Wis.

Brotherella recurvans resembles Pseudotaxiphyllum elegans (Hypnaceae) superficially, but is generally larger and has inflated alar cells and a toothed apiculus. Branches and main shoots of B. recurvans bear leaves of similar size and areolation, and branching tends to be irregular. The laminal cells are usually linear to sinuate-linear.