Horizontal stems flat on ground, 3--12 X 0.5--0.9 cm; stems (excluding leaves) slender, 0.5--0.9 mm diam.; leaves monomorphic, spreading, upcurved, 5--6 X 0.5--0.7 mm, margins entire. Peduncles 1(--2) per plant, 3.5--6 X 0.4--0.7 cm; strobilus length 1/2--1/3 total height; leaves spreading, 5--6 X 0.5--0.8 mm, margins rarely toothed. Strobili 10--20 X 2.5--5.5 mm. Sporophylls spreading to spreading-ascending, 4.5--5 X 0.5--0.9 mm, margins rarely toothed. 2 n = 156. Bogs, lakeshores, marshes, lichens, borrow pits; 0--2000 m; St. Pierre and Miquelon; Alta., B.C., N.B., Nfld., N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Sask., Que.; Alaska, Calif., Conn., Idaho, Ill., Ind., Ky., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Mont., N.H., N.J., N.Y., Ohio, Oreg., Pa., R.I., Vt., Va., Wash., W.Va., Wis.; Eurasia.