Pleurozium Mitten, J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 12: 537. 1869.
[name conserved]
Greek pleura, side, and ozos, branch, presumably referring to the pinnate branching
J. R. Rohrer
Plants prostrate to erect-ascending; growth monopodial. Stems irregularly to regularly 1(--2)-pinnate; paraphyllia absent. Stem leaves loosely appressed to spreading, distinctly crowded and imbricate at stem tip, ovate to elliptic, wrinkled when dry, but neither plicate nor rugose when wet, shortly decurrent; margins entire except at apex; apex often recurved, rounded to obtuse, often appearing bluntly apiculate because of broadly incurved margins; costa double to nearly absent, extending less than 1/4 leaf length; cells smooth; alar cells relatively few in small, distinct group. Branch leaves smaller, elliptic to lanceolate. Capsule inclined to horizontal; operculum conic; exostome teeth reticulate proximally on exterior surface; endostome segments with elliptic perforations splitting widely along keel.
Species 1: cool-temperate to sub-Arctic zones, North America, Mexico, Central America, South America, Eurasia, Atlantic Islands.
