Gymnostomiella vernicosa var. tenerum (C. Müll. ex Dus.) Arts, J. Bryol. 20:424. 1998; Splachnobryum tenerum C. Müll. ex Dus., Kongl. Svenska Vetensk. Acad. Handl. 28(3): 39. a–c, f. 50. 1896.
Gymnostomiella tenerum (C. Müll. ex Dus.) Arts, J. Bryol. 19: 76. 1996.
Plants very small, 1–3 mm high, green to blackish green or brownish, in dense tufts. Stems very short, simple, often radiculose at the base. Leaves contracted when dry, erect or widely spreading when moist, obovate to spathulate, rounded at the apex; margins plane, entire below, denticulate above middle mostly by papillose cells; costa faint, not much differentiated from laminal cells, slender, ending slightly above the leaf middle; upper leaf cells hexagonal, lax, pellucid, thin-walled, bluntly papillose; basal cells rectangular, smooth, thin-walled; alar cells not differentiated. Dioicous. Gemmae often in leaf axils. Sporophytes not seen.
Type. Liberia: P. Dusen s.n.
Chinese specimens examined: SICHUAN: Mian-yang Co., Allen 7385, 7395 (MO), Redfearn et al. 35599a (MO, SMS).
Habitat: on clay soil and sandstone; Distribution: China, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, and Africa.
The var. tenerum is different from var. vernicosa by the unipapillose upper leaf cells and dentate-crenulate upper leaf margins, instead of pluripapillose upper leaf cells and papillose-crenulate upper leaf margins (Arts 1998).
Illustrations: Arts 1998 (fig. 7, 1–4).
