Tortella alpicola Dix.(Pottiaceae) is reported as a new record to China.It is distributed in North America,Europe and Asia.This species is characterized as plants reaching to 1 cm hight,leaf base peculiar snow-white and caducous leaf tip with several “barrel-shaped” segments.Morphological characterizations and geographical distribution of T.alpicola are given and confusion with other taxa,such as Tortella fragilis(Hook.& Wils.) Limpr.,Tortella tortuosa(Hedw.) Limpr.and Tortella humilis(Hedw.) Jenn.,is discussed.A key to the genus Tortella in China and illustrations of T.alpicola are presented.