Entosthodon attenuatus

Plants 2-5 mm, pale brownish yellow. Leaves variously con-torted when dry, ovate to obovate or oblong-spathulate, imbricate, somewhat concave, mostly 2-3 mm long; margins crenulate-serrulate by inflated narrow thin-walled cells that often form a orangish border; apices narrowed to an acute tip terminating abruptly in a sharp, 1-2-celled apiculus; costa ending 3-5 cells before the tip; basal laminal cells rectangular (75-105 × 20-32 µm), distal cells irregularly hexagonal to oblong rectangular. Seta reddish, 6-10 mm, straight, not hygroscopic. Capsule elongate-pyriform from an apophysis about half the total length, 2-3 mm, somewhat sulcate when dry and empty; exothecial cells, scarcely thickened, narrowly oblong and transversely elongate in 5-7 rows proximal to the mouth; operculum planoconvex, peristome well developed, exostome teeth reddish brown, lanceolate with 4-7 thin trabeculae, slender, fragile tips, striate basally and papillose at the tips, endostome not seen. Calyptra cucullate, long-beaked, inflated around the capsule, large, smooth. Spores 27-35 µm, smooth, often faintly angled.

Disturbed, seasonally wet, sandy soils along stream beds or roadside ditches; moderate to high elevations; Ariz., Calif., N.Mex., Tex.; Europe.