Plants medium to large, mostly unbranched, dark green, in loose tufts. Stems 2-5(-10) cm. Leaves 5-10 mm, somewhat contorted and flexuose when dry, spreading-recurved when moist; sheath short, oblong, yellowish (in what has been known as Polytrichum gracile var. anomalum) weakly differentiated and tapering to the blade, hyaline margined, the hinge-tissue often not well developed; blade narrowly lanceolate; marginal lamina typically broad and often somewhat inflexed, 5-9(-12) cells wide (to 20 cells wide in var. anomalum), plane to erect, sharply toothed nearly to the sheath, the teeth composed of a single, elongate tooth cell, or at times less strongly toothed to denticulate; costa excurrent, ending in a short awn; lamellae in profile entire or finely serrulate, 3-7 cells high, the marginal cells in section ovate to elliptic, scarcely enlarged, usually taller than wide, sometimes slightly thicker-walled, smooth; sheath cells short-rectangular, (30-)40-60 × 14-18 µm (ca. 3-4:1); cells of the marginal lamina 15-18 µm (larger in var. anomalum), quadrate to transversely elongate; perichaetial leaves similar to the vegetative leaves or slightly larger. Seta 4-7 cm tall, typically exceeding the leafy shoots in length, yellowish, reddish brown below. Capsule 3-5 mm, slender to ovoid, (4-)5-6-angled, yellowish brown; hypophysis cylindric, narrower than the urn; exothecium smooth, the cells irregularly rectangular, not bulging, without thin spots; peristome pale, 400-600 µm, divided to 0.8, the teeth ca. 50, somewhat irregular in size and shape, rather slender. Spores 18-28 µm.
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