Philonotis elongata (Dism.) Crum & Steere, Bryologist 59: 251. 1956.

Philonotis sphaericarpa var. elongata Dism., Mém. Soc. Bot. France 17: 14. 1910. Protologue: Ecuador and Peru. Équateur. – Quito (Spruce, 420). Pérou. – Banos (Spruce 424).

Philonotis tenella var. elongata Dism. ex Crum & Steere, Bryologist 59: 251. 1956, invalid name, error for P. sphaericarpa var. elongata.

Plants delicate, medium-sized, in loose, yellowish green or green, often glossy tufts or mats, laxly ascending to prostrate, to 30 mm high. Stems red; rhizoids at base, reddish brown, smooth to lightly roughened. Leaves 0.8–1.4 mm long, erect to erect-spreading, sometimes secund when dry, erect-spreading to spreading, straight or secund when wet, narrowly lanceolate; apices long-acuminate; margins narrowly revolute, doubly serrate; costa percurrent to short-excurrent; cells papillose, papillae at upper cell ends, upper cells rectangular, subrectangular to subquadrate, firm‑walled, 12–17(–42) x 5–7 μm, basal cells rectangular, to 25 x 7–10 μm, alar cells quadrate. Dioicous. Perigonia gemmiform, terminal. Setae 7–15 mm long, red. Capsules 1–2 mm long, brown, ovoid, inclined; exothecial cells thin-walled; opercula 0.5 mm long, conic‑mammillate; peristome double, exostome teeth red, outer surface densely and thickly papillose above, finely and evenly papillose below, trabeculae thin, inner surface smooth, trabeculae thick, endostome yellow, evenly papillose throughout, basal membrane short, segments broad, each segment split along the median line and each half diverging toward the cilia, cilia 1–3, short, stout. Spores reniform, 20–25 μm, papillose.