Japan Flora: Evergreen; stems densely tufted, densely leaved, ascending to spreading, 5-12 cm. long, 2.5-3 mm. wide, branched, gray-green on upper side, pale green beneath, flat, the branches sparingly forked in one plane; roots all at the base, interwoven to form a simple or rarely fewbranched false stem to 15 cm. long; leaves of two forms, in 4 rows, ascending, the larger or lower ones ovate, 1.5-2 mm. long, short-acuminate, filiform-tipped, serrulate, the margins cartilaginous, the smaller or upper leaves slightly smaller, suberect, scarcely oblique; spikes slightly narrower than the sterile branchlets, regularly 4-angled, the bracts ovate-deltoid, about 1.5 mm. long, acuminate, awn-tipped, serrulate, green, white- cartilaginous on margin. Shaded rocks;

Hokkaido (Oshima Prov. including Okushiri Isl.), Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu; rather common. Korea, Ryukyus, Formosa, Philippines and China to n. India.

Russia Flora: Plant 5-8 cm tall. Branches flattened, somewhat concave on top, convex on the lower surface, crowded in the form of a rosette in the upper part, sparsely forked branched in one plane, in wet weather — spreading, in dry weather — curling inward in the form of a concave ball, up to 12 cm long, 2.5-3 mm wide. Roots concentrated in the lower part of the stem and intertwine into a simple or slightly branched false stem up to 15 cm long. Phyllodia heterogeneous, arranged in 4 rows: dorsal — oval, 1.5-2 mm long, 0.7 mm wide, with cartilaginous margins, finely serrate, at the apex with a light point 1.5 mm long; ventral — somewhat smaller, slightly oblique. Strobiloids up to 3 cm long, somewhat narrower than the vegetative branch, 4-angled, solitary or in pairs, 0.5 cm long. Sporophylloids homogeneous, oval-deltoid, awn-like pointed, keeled. Microspore spermoderm with various kinds of projections. 

Upper Zeya, Lower Zeya, Bureya, Ussuri — Rock outcrops, predominantly carbonate, in lowlands and mountain forest belt. VIII-IX. Protected. — General distribution: Mongolia, Himalayas, Japan-China, Southeast Asia (Vietnam).