2. Scopelophila ligulata (Spruce) Spruce 舌叶藓 she-ye xian
J. Bot. 19: 14. 1881. Merceya ligulata (Spruce) Schimp., Syn. Musc. Eur. (ed 2) 2: 852. 1876. Encalypta ligulata Spruce, Musci Pyren. 331. 1847. Type. Pyrenees: Spruce s.n.
Merceya thermalis M. Fleisch. ex Broth., Nat. Pflanzenfam. (ed. 2) 11: 247. 1925, nom. illeg.
Merceya thermalis var. compacta M. Fleisch. in P.C. Chen, Hedwigia 80: 271. 1941, nom. nud.
Plants medium-sized to rather large, to 5 cm high, soft, yellowish green to dark brown, in dense tufts. Stems erect, fragile, simple or branched, radiculose at the base. Leaves moderately contorted-curved when dry, spreading when moist, 2–3(–4) mm long, ligulate to elliptic-lanceolate from a narrowed base, obtuse to rounded apiculate at the apex; margins plane or somewhat recurved below, subentire to crenulate above, sometimes bordered by several rows of thicker-walled cells; costa slender, subpercurrent, ending a few cells below the apex; upper leaf cells quadrate to irregularly hexagonal, 5–8 µm in diameter, moderately thick-walled, smooth; basal cells laxly rectangular, somewhat enlarged, thin-walled, smooth. Setae ca. 5 mm long; capsules oblong-ovoid; opercula conic-rostrate, with a short erect beak.