Japan Flora: Rather soft, pale green, creeping herb; stems slender, simple or spar­ingly branched, 5-12 cm. long, about 1.5 mm. across, or 5-10 mm. across including the leaves; leaves linear, soft, spreading, somewhat ascending, 4-6 mm. long, 0.5-0.8 mm. wide, acumi­nate, entire or with few minute teeth, midnerve obsolete; fer­tile branches arising directly from the creeping stems, simple, usually solitary, erect, 4-10 cm. long, leafy; spies usually soli­tary, erect, cylindric, 2-4 cm. long, 6-15 mm. wide inclusive of the fertile leaves (bracts), the bracts many, similar to the sterile leaves, spreading to recurved, dilated at base; sporangia subglobose. Boggy places.

Hokkaido, Honshu (Kinki Distr. and northw.); rather rare. China, Europe, and N. America.