Barbula princeps (De Not.) C. Müll., Syn. Musc. Frond. 1: 636. 1849.

Plants medium-sized to large, 2.0–5.0 cm high, dark green to reddish brown, in dense tufts. Stems erect, simple or irregularly branched, radiculose at base; central strand present. Leaves appressed or somewhat contorted-curved when dry, spreading when moist, oblong-ligulate to spathulate, obtusely acute at apex, upper lamina broadly channeled or keeled, weakly sheathing at base; margins often recurved, crenulate by projecting papillae; costa rather stout, reddish brown, excurrent, ending in a long, hyaline awn, denticulate on the back or at tips; upper leaf cells quadrate to hexagonal, each cell densely covered with several C-shaped papillae; basal cells distinctly differentiated, rectangular, thin-walled, smooth, hyaline or reddish. Autoicous (synoicous). Setae elongate, straight, reddish; capsules erect, cylindrical; peristome teeth linear, twisted, papillose; basal membrane high.

Type. Sardinia, 1847, Rabenhorst s.n.

Chinese specimens examined: SHAANXI: Tai-bai Shan (Mt.), S.-E. Liu 4328 (PE). XINJIANG: Qing-he Co., R.-C. Qin 1213 (MO, PE); Sha-wan Co., R.-C. Qin 3467 (MO, PE); Xiang-Ke-gang Co., C.-Y. Yang 68 (HKAS).

Habitat: on rocks; Distribution: China, India, Himalayas, Turkey, Europe, North and South America, Africa, and Australia.

Illustrations: C. Gao (ed.) 1996 (Pl. 84, fig. 6, as Tortula princeps).