Plants small. Stems simple, 2–4 mm tall (rarely taller), green to red-brown. Leaves lanceolate to triangular-lanceolate, rarely ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, 0.5–0.9 mm long, 0.1–0.2 mm wide; margins denticulate above; costa well-defined, excurrent, bluntly denticulate dorsally towards the apex, multistratose costal wings absent, occupying up to one-third of the leaf base; laminal cells rectangular, smooth to prorate, losing shape near the apex and margin, 20–55 × 10–12 µm.
Perigonia located below the perichaetium. Perichaetial leaves large, lanceolate; margin serrulate towards apex; basal cells elongate. Setae to 7 mm long. Capsules erect, globose, unevenly wrinkled. Peristome absent. Spores globose, ovoid or reniform, densely warty, 36–50 µm diameter.
The capsules of this commonly fruiting moss are sometimes slightly furrowed rather than wrinkled. The lack of a peristome, along with the usually wrinkled capsule and comparatively small size are diagnostic.
Occurs on soil at high altitudes in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Victoria; also in New Zealand (South Island).
Bartramia curvirostris Mitt., Hooker’s J. Bot. Kew Gard. Misc. 8: 260 (1856), as B. curvirostra; Conostomum curvirostre (Mitt.) Mitt., Trans. & Proc. Roy. Soc. Victoria 19: 68 (1882).
Type: Munyang Mtns, Australian Alps, [Vic.], 1885, F.Mueller 83; syn: MEL, NY n.v., fide J.-P.Frahm et al., Trop. Bryol. 12: 100 (1996); syn: BM, CHR n.v., fide A.J.Fife, New Zealand J. Bot. 36: 606 (1998).
N.S.W.: Etheridge Range, 1 km NE of Mt Kosciuszko, D.J.Wimbush 45 (CANB).
A.C.T.: Mt Bimberi, H.Streimann 4362 (CANB).
Vic.: “Ruined Castle”, Bogong High Plains, H.Streimann 53525 (CANB).
A.J.Fife, New Zealand J. Bot. 607, fig. 1 (1998).
Gilmore, S.R. (2012). Australian Mosses Online 42. Bartramiaceae. Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra. Version 9 June 2012. http://www.anbg.gov.au/abrs/Mosses_online/42_Bartramiaceae.html
First published as: Gilmore, S.R. (2006). Bartramiaceae, in McCarthy, P.M (ed.) Flora of Australia 51: 248–270. (Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra & CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.)
Author - Scott R. Gilmore
Editor(s) - Pat M. McCarthy (2012)
Contributors - Peri Bolton (May 2019).
Acknowledgements -
Cite this profile as: Scott R. Gilmore (2022) Conostomum curvirostre. In: Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, Canberra. https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/boa/profile/Conostomum%20curvirostre [Date Accessed: 06 April 2025]