The moss name Tortula tortuosa Hedw. [; Tortella tortuosa (Hedw.) Limpr.] was first validly published in Species muscorum frondosorum by Hedwig (1801), but the entity itself can be traced back in the pre-Linnaean literature to the early eighteenth century. Over 200 hundred years after its valid publication, Tortula tortuosa remains to be typified. A single sheet in the Hedwig-Schwa¨grichen Herbarium (G00040331), which includes original material of T. tortuosa, holds seven different collections. From among these specimens, a lectotype for this taxon is designated herein.