Japan Flora: Stems creeping and appressed to the ground, slender, 3-5 mm. wide, with short ascending branches; leaves multifarious, all alike, spreading, rather loose, more dense in upper part, lanceolate, 2-3 mm. long, acute, minutely spine-tipped, remotely ciliate, the midrib obsolete; fertile stems erect from a creeping base, scapiform, 5-8 cm. long, inclusive of the spike, simple; leaves of fertile stems similar to the sterile ones; spike solitary, erect, 1-2 cm. long, pedunculate, rather densely bracteate; bracts multifarious, similar to the sterile leaves but slightly larger, spreading to ascending, 3.5-5 mm. long, 1-1.5 mm. wide prominently serrate-ciliate; sporangia globose. June-July. Alpine slopes;

Hokkaido, Honshu (centr. to n. distr.); rather rare. Kuriles, Kamchatka, Siberia to Europe, and N. America.