Vesicularia inflectens

Detailed description

Plants variable yellow-brown to golden-green when fresh, lustrous, on soil. Stems creeping, irregularly branched, to c.15 mm, in cross-section with small, firm-walled cortical cells, no hyaloderm or central strand, with brown and apparently smooth rhizoids arising in fascicles on the ventral surface. Branches rather short. Stem and branch leaves weakly differentiated. Leaves complanate, secund in upper part of stems, c.1.6–1.8 X 0.8–0.9 mm, the dorsal leaves nearly symmetric, the lateral leaves markedly asymmetric, entire or crenulate above, broadly ovate, acute; upper laminal cells rhombic, thin-walled and lax, smooth, c.60–90 X 15–18 micrometre, becoming smaller at leaf apex and somewhat more elongate near leaf base; marginal cells sometimes weakly differentiated at mid leaf, not forming an obvious border; alar cells not differentiated. Costae weak, short and double or nearly absent. ?Autoicous. Perichaetia scattered on stems; perichaetial leaves somewhat smaller than vegetative, erect. Setae smooth, elongate, c.9–15 mm; capsules horizontal, oblong-cylindric with neck virtually lacking, c.1 mm; exothecial cells rather firm-walled and weakly thickened in corners. Operculum conical.