3. Distichophyllum collenchymatosum Card. 厚角黄藓 hou-jiao huang xian
Bull. Soc. Bot. Genève, ser. 2, 3: 278. 1911. Type. Japan.
3a. Distichophyllum collenchymatosum var. collenchymatosum 厚角黄藓原变种 hou-jiao huang xian yuan bian-zhong
Distichophyllum cavaleriei Thér., Monde Pl., ser. 2, 9: 22, 1907. Type. China: Guizhou, Tong Tcheou, 1904, J. Cavalerie s.n. (lectotype PC, designated by P.-J. Lin & B. C. Tan 1995).
Distichophyllum sinense Dix., Hong Kong Naturalist., Suppl. 2: 22. 1933. Type. China: Guangdong, White Cloud Mountain, Herklots 302C.
Distichophyllum cf. perlimbatum Broth., in Z.-H. Li & Piippo, Trop. Bryol. 9: 40. 1994, nom. nud.
Plants small to medium-sized, densely tufted. Stems often irregularly branched, complanately and densely foliate, 1–3(–6) cm tall, 3–5 mm wide with leaves. Leaves contracted and undulate when dry, ovate-oblong to broadly lingulate, 1.5–3.0 mm × 1.0 mm, with a distinct, well developed and stout apical acumen or mucro measuring 20 to 50 µm long; leaf margins entire, plane to wavy when wet, with a well developed border consisting of 2–3 rows of thin-walled, linear cells, measuring 12–18 µm wide; costa well developed, extending to leaf apex or ending well below the apex; laminal cells large, round-polygonal, (27–)34–56 µm wide, thin-walled, slightly collenchymatous, nearly uniform in size from the margin to costa, becoming slightly smaller only near the apex and extreme periphery, rectangular at leaf base. Perichaetial leaves narrowly oblong, small, less than l mm long, with distinct border. Sporophytes lateral. Setae elongate, 10–15 mm long, smooth; capsules ovoid, about 1.0–1.5 mm long. Gemmae filamentous, highly branched, multiseptate present on the abaxial, basal part of leaf costa.