31. Brachythecium pulchellum Broth. & Paris   青藓   qing xian

Rev. Bryol. 31: 63. 1904. Sciuro-hypnum pulchellum (Broth. & Paris) Ochyra & Żarnowiec, Biodiv. Poland 3: 175. 2003. Type: Japan. Kyushu, Pref. Kumamoto, Faurie 1313.

Brachythecium rhynchostegielloides Cardot, Bull. Soc. Bot. Genève, ser. 2, 3: 292. 1911.

 

Plants rather small, glossy. Stems prostrate, to only ca. 2.0 cm long, sparsely regularly branched, with simple branches, ca. 0.5 cm long, densely foliate. Stem leaves lanceolate or narrowly ovate-lanceolate, 1.3–1.7 mm × 0.40–0.45 mm, concave, plicate, often curved, asymmetric, slenderly long acuminate toward apex; margins serrulate below mid-leaf, nearly entire above, nearly truncate or slightly decurrent at base; costae reaching ca. mid-leaf; median leaf cells linear-vermicular, 40–60 µm × 5–6 µm, with rounded ends, thin-walled; alar cells distinctly differentiated, shortly rectangular or hexagonal, often extending close to costa at leaf base; branch leaves lanceolate, somewhat asymmetric, gradually long acuminate, constricted at base; costae ending beyond mid-leaf. Dioicous? Perichaetial leaves lanceolate, ca. 1.0 mm long, ecostate. Setae ca. 15–20 mm long, smooth; capsules inclined, ellipsoidal; peristome not seen. Spores not seen.