Plants: dark green, dull. Stems: often curved, subjulaceous when dry. Leaves: appressed when dry, wide-spreading when moist, broadly ovate-lanceolate, gradually narrowed to apex, 1 mm; margins entire; apex concolorous; costa ending just below apex, broad; basal laminal cells subquadrate; medial cells oval, 3–7 µm, indistinctly 1-papillose; apical cells elongate, smooth. : Specialized asexual reproduction with brood branches absent. Seta: 0.8 cm. Capsule: 1.5–2 mm. Spores: 20–24 µm, smooth. Phenology: Capsules mature May–Dec.
Tree bark, shrubs, rotten wood. high elevations (1700-3000 m). N.Mex., Tex., Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Tamaulipas), Central America (Guatemala).
Lindbergia mexicana is included in the genus because of its reduced peristome and leaves widely spreading when moist. Plants of L. mexicana differ from others in the genus in a strict sense in having leaves with less distinctly papillose cells (H. A. Crum and W. R. Buck 1994). Lindbergia mexicana is distinguished from L. brachyptera by branches that are subjulaceous when dry, leaves that are acute to short-acuminate, a broad costa extending nearly to the apex, and indistinctly 1-papillose laminal cells. The basal laminal cells are wider than long, in several rows.