Plants small to moderate-sized, slender and soft, lax, moderately weak to moderately stiff-stemmed; green, pale yellowish green, yellowish brown, grayish brown or reddish brown; capitulum typically compact and twisted in the middle like a ball of yarn, spreading branches curved giving a pinwheel appearance. Stems pale green to pale brown, rarely with pinkish red patches, superficial cortex of undifferentiated to slightly differentiated cells. Stem leaves triangular-lingulate to lingulate, 0.7-1.3 mm, appressed to stem, apex obtuse to broadly obtuse and erose to somewhat lacerate, hyaline cells efibrillose and nonseptate. Branches curved, unranked to less commonly (in wet-grown forms) 5-ranked, leaves not much elongate at distal end. Branch fascicles with 2(-3) spreading and 2 pendent branches. Branch stems green but sometimes reddish at proximal end, with cortex enlarged with conspicuous retort cells. Branch leaves ovate-lanceolate to broadly ovate-lanceolate, 1.5-2.5 mm, strongly undulate and moderately recurved when dry, straight; margin entire; greater than hyaline cells on convex surface with 1-2 pores per cell at cell apex, on concave surface with round wall thinnings in the cell ends and angles; chlorophyllous cells triangular in transverse section and typically just slightly exposed on the concave surface. Sexual condition dioicous. Spores 23-25 µm; moderately to coarsely papillose on both surfaces; proximal laesura approximately 0.5 spore radius.
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