Square goose neck moss

Description

Plants large, soft, 3--5 mm wide measured across leafy stem, to 7 cm long. Stems remotely and irregularly branched to irregularly 1(--2)-pinnately branched; branches commonly to 15 mm. Stem leaves wide-spreading to squarrose, broadly ovate, not plicate or rugose, 2.1--3.8 - 1.6--3.2 mm; base scarcely sheathing, broadly rounded to the insertion; apex abruptly narrowed to a short, channeled acumen; costa extending 1/3 to 1/2 leaf; median cells 25--55 - 4--7 -m, smooth; alar cells vaguely distinct, golden-orange, slightly wider than basal cells with thickened, porose walls. Branch leaves ovate, 1.5--2.8 - 0.7--2 mm. [Capsule oblong, ca. 2.1 mm.] Under tall forbs in coastal meadows of lower mountain slopes; 0--30 m; Alaska; e Asia. Known from 5 or fewer localities in North America, all in the Aleutian Islands.