Terricolous, growing on damp soil; thallose, prostrate and creeping in crowded, overlying mats, bright green when fresh, rarely developing a purplish or reddish tinge along margins and over costa, linear, simple or dichotomously branched, sometimes with ventral intercalary branching, medium-sized to large, 10-20 x 2-3 mm, 280 µm thick over ventrally bulging costa, from which arise pale brownish, translucent rhizoids, smooth and mostly ± 12.5 µm wide; apex entire or with a shallow notch, the two halves very slightly overlapping in centre, bearing numerous 2-celled slime papillae. ± 65 x 20 µm, these also present ventrally near the apex; margins entire, undulate, without slime branched, sometimes with ventral intercalary branching, medium-sized to large, 10-20 x 2-3 mm, 280 µm thick over ventrally bulging costa, from which arise pale brownish, translucent rhizoids, smooth and mostly ± 12.5 µm wide; apex entire or with a shallow notch the two halves very slightly overlapping in centre, bearing numerous 2-celled slime papillae, ± 65 x 20 µm these also present ventrally near the apex; margins entire, undulate, without slime papillae. Wings translucent, unistratose, medianly 2 or 3 cells thick, rather abruptly grading into the roughly triangular costa; outer row of cells along margin generally rectangular, ± 50.0 x 27.5 µm, otherwise cells 5-or 6-sided, 50-75 x 30.0-37.5 µm and ± 40 µm thick in section, containing numerous chloroplasts and fusiform or ± triangular oil bodies. Costa with a central conducting strand, ± 45 µm wide, brownish to purple, formed of strongly elongated, small cells, ± 10.0 x 7.5 µm, with straight, thickened walls, the enclosing cells up to 10 or 11 rows deep, hyaline, much larger, mostly 50.0 x 27.5 µm, irregular in shape, walls thin and wavy. Dioicous. Androecia usually in 2 crowded, more or less parallel rows over the costa and lateral to it on either side, each short-stalked antheridium partially covered by an irregularly shaped, dentate or entire, forwardly-directed, scale-like involucre, ± 800 x 450 µm, its cells mostly 67.5 x 45.0 µm, with age antheridia turn yellow and cell walls of scales darken. Gynoecia generally one to several per frond, in acropetal succession, situated dorsally over the costa and containing several archegonia in a cluster, which is subtended by a posteriorly inserted, scale-like involucre, sometimes partly double toward the base, generally deeply laciniate, 850-110 x 500-750 µm, its cells ± 72.5 x 50.0 µm. Calyptra thickening and enlarging into a fleshy shoot-calyptra. up to 3 mm long and as much as 10 cell rows or 260 µm thick in cross section, with several unfertilized archegonia at the tip, before it is perforated by the capsule. Capsule cylindrical, 2250 x 650 µm, opening with 4 valves, wall brown, several cell layers thick, outer cells irregularly elongate, ± 200 x 20-30 µm, with cell walls evenly thickened, inner cells thin-walled. Seta when young, erect, ± 290 µm in diameter, with + 18 cortical cell rows and ± 16 medullary cells, eventually becoming long and tenuous. Spores light brown, ± globular, 25-30 µm in diameter, ornamentation with low, irregularly branched, short or long, curly ridges, on proximal face a discrete round area with the ornamentation much more densely arranged. Elaters bright brown, tapering to the ends, up to 195 x 7.5 µm wide in the centre, 2-spiral.
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