2. Mielichhoferia japonica Besch. 日本缺齿藓 ri ben que chi xian
J. Bot. (Morot) 12: 299. 1898. Mielichhoferiamielichhoferiana var. japonica (Besch.) Ochi, Rev. Bry. Japan 7. 1959. Type: Japan. Akan, Kushiro in Hokkaido, Faurie 10744.
Plants very small, ca. 3 mm high, yellowish green, mature branches dark green, fragile, in dense cushions or compact. Stems very short, branched at base. Leaves of infertile stems imbricate, ovate-lanceolate to narrowly ovate, abruptly acute; leaves of reproductive branches broadly lanceolate, broader in the middle, cucullate; margins plane or slightly recurved, serrulate above; costae ending below the apex; median leaf cells hyaline, narrowly hexagonal to oblong-rhomboidal, 85–100 µm × 12–16 µm, thin-walled, narrowed toward margins, but borders not differentiated; basal cells similar to the median cells, but larger. Setae curved, ca. 5–6 mm long; capsules yellowish brown, pyriform, horizontal; stomata superficial; annuli persistent; exostomial teeth rather broad at base, hyaline, smooth; basal membrane very low. Spores 12–17 µm in diameter, more or less roughened.