Ecology: Open montane to shrubby páramo (often associated with Quercus forest, at least in the Colombian departments of Cauca and Nariño.); on logs, soil and rocks, infrequent on base of trees. Elevation: 1150-4300 m (Venezuela: 1900-2400 m, Colombia: 1640-4300 m, Ecuador: 2250-3500 m, Peru: 2600 m, Bolivia: 1200-2755 m, NW Argentina: 1150 m). Distribution: Mexico, Central America, tropical Andes, southeast Brazil, and Paraguay.
Campylopus heterostachys is characterized by the rather broadly lanceolate leaves, often flattened when dry, distally with tips spreading, margins often strongly serrate above, costa dorsally ridged and toothed above, in cross-section with ventral hyalocysts, stereids in small clusters dorsally, upper lamina cells subquadrate, appearing often in distinct rows, basal cells rectangular, hyaline and thin-walled, and alar cells usually well developed. Campylopus annotinus Mitt. and C. porphyreocaulis (Müll. Hal.) Kindb. are synonyms.