Dioicous. Plants small, prostrate, 10–15 mm long, dull green to dark green, rarely branched. Leaves complanate, crisped, straighter when moist, oblanceolate to oblong-oval, 1.1–2.4 mm long, 0.50–0.75 mm wide, generally strongly apiculate; margin entire or distantly irregular or slightly distantly denticulate; costa reddish brown, extending to c. three-quarters of the leaf length, narrow, c. 3 cells wide, 25–35 μm at the base. Laminal cells thin-walled to moderately thick-walled; upper and median cells hexagonal to hexagonal-rounded, 12–20 × 8–10 μm, smaller towards the margin; basal cells at mid-leaf rectangular to hexagonal, 26–50 × 13–20 μm, narrower nearer the margin; border narrow, 2 or 3 cells wide, extending from base to apiculus, the cells to 100 μm long. Rhizoids sparse, branched, reddish brown, darker with age, sparingly papillose, to 2.5 mm long and to 50 μm wide; cells to 75–100 (–340 μm) long.

Perigonial leaves linear to lanceolate, 0.55–0.75 mm long, 0.13–0.20 mm wide, ecostate; margin entire. Laminal cells hexagonal 50–67 × 13–20 μm, shorter above, more rectangular below; border indistinct, 1 cell wide. Antheridia c. 10 per perigonium, 150–250 μm long; paraphyses very rare, 180–200 × 10–12 μm, hyaline; cells c. 25 μm long. Inner perichaetial leaves at the base of the capsule lanceolate to ovate-acuminate, 1.0–1.2 mm long, 0.40–0.55 mm wide; margin distantly denticulate; costa absent or very weak, hyaline, to half the leaf length, 1 cell wide, the cells narrowly rectangular. Laminal cells hexagonal, 62–75 (–115) × 12–17 μm; basal cells more rectangular, 30–50 × 13–17 μm; border narrow, 1 or 2 cells wide. Calyptra smooth, cream-coloured with a black tip, 1.2–1.3 mm long. Seta smooth, 9–11 mm long. Capsules pendulous, 0.85–1.00 mm long; operculum 0.5–0.7 mm long, erect to suberect. Peristome: exostome teeth c. 250 μm long; endostome segments 180–230 μm long. Spores 9–13 μm diameter.

Most fertile collections were seen in May–August.

Hookeria crispula Hook.f. & Wilson, London Journal of Botany 3: 550 (1844); Mniadelphus crispulus (Hook.f. & Wilson) Müll.Hal., Synopsis Muscorum Frondosorum 2: 25 (1850); Distichophyllum crispulum (Hook.f. & Wilson) Mitt., Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 19: 77 (1882).
 T: Bay of Islands, New Zealand, Aug. 1841, J.D.Hooker; holo: BM; iso: BM.

Taxonomic synonyms

Mniadelphus baileyi Müll.Hal. ex Kindb., Enumeratio Bryinearum Exoticarum 101 (1891), nom. nud.; Mniadelphus baileyi Müll.Hal. ex Paris, Index Bryologicus 821 (1897), nom. nud.

Distichophyllum baileyanum Müll.Hal., Hedwigia 41: 123 (1902). T: Helidon, Qld, 1883, F.M.Bailey 105; lecto: BRI, fide H.Streimann, Journal of the Hattori Botanical Laboratory 86: 92 (1999).

Distichophyllum minutifolium Müll.Hal., Hedwigia 41: 123 (1902). T: near Lilydale, N.S.W., Sept. 1891, T.Whitelegge; lecto: H, fide H.Streimann, loc. cit.

Distichophyllum subflexuosum Broth. ex Burges, Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 60: 93 (1935), nom. nud.

Qld: Mt Bellenden Ker, 23 km SSE of Gordonvale, H.Streimann 27436 (CANB, L); Dawes Range, Kroombit S.F., 53 km E of Biloela, H.Streimann 52479 (CANB).

N.S.W.: Brindle Ck, Wiangarree State Forest, [Border Ranges National Park], 27 km NNE of Kyogle, H.Streimann 6071 (CANB, L); Higgins Ck, 19 km NE of Batemans Bay, H.Streimann 5778 (CANB, L, MO).

Vic.: Stanley Ck, Howes Range, J.H.Willis s.n. (MEL).

J.Beever, K.W.Allison & J.Child, Mosses of New Zealand, 2nd edn 131 (1992); H.Streimann, Journal of the Hattori Botanical Laboratory 86: 93, fig. 1 (1999); H.Streimann, The Mosses of Norfolk Island 96, fig. 44 (2002); D.Meagher & B.Fuhrer, A Field Guide to the Mosses and Allied Plants of Southern Australia 37 (2003)

Streimann, H. (2012). Australian Mosses Online 11. Hookeriaceae: [Distichophyllum]. Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra. Version 19 April 2012