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Scorpidium revolvens
The reddish plants with dark costa, precisely spirally twisted leaf apices, and differentiated alar cells serve to identify this species. Scorpidium scorpioides has broader and shorter leaves and a shorter, narrower costa; Hamatocaulis vernicosus has characteristically hooked leaves, a green color and no alar cells; while S. cossonii is brownish to green in color, shorter, more blunt leaf cells, and is usually more richly branched. In the arctic Pseudocalliergon (Drepanocladus) brevifolius can be superficially similar, but has shorter leaves and no enlarged stem cortex. Microscopically, the three species of Scorpidium all have enlarged stem epidermal cells and a central strand.
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| Habit | Prostrate to ascending, reddish to purplish plants. |
| Stems | irregularly to sparsely branched, in transverse section with enlarged epidermis and well-developed central strand. |
| Leaves | densely packed, strongly falcate-secund, with spirally twisted, long acuminate apices, costa single, ending in upper 2/3rds of leaf, usually with some reddish color or at least darker then lamina, margins faintly denticulate. |
| Leaf Cells | elongate-linear (14-95 um long – Hedenas 1989), with pointed ends, smooth, |
| Alar Cells | 5-20, hyaline, inflated, forming non-decurrent, angular groups. |
| Habitat | Usually forming dense lawns and carpets in rich fens, especially characteristically occurring above Scorpidium scorpioides and below Campylium stellatum in extreme-rich fens. |
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