Seta 4-11 mm, straight. Capsule, when mature, broadly ovoid, 3-7 mm and nearly as wide, rich, glossy, chestnut brown, upper face flattened and sharply differen-tiated from lower face by a dark brown ridge, oblique or nearly at right angles to seta. Spores 6-8 µm.

Capsules mature late spring-fall. Decaying wood, humus, sometimes shallow acid soil and soil depressions on rock outcrops, mainly in well-illuminated to somewhat shaded sites, low to moderate elevations; Alta., B.C., N.B., Nfld. and Labr. (Nfld.), N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que.; Alaska, Calif., Colo., Conn., Del., Ill., Iowa, Maine, Mass., Mich., Mont., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Oreg., Vt., Va., Wash.; Europe; Asia; Pacific Islands (New Zealand).

SELECTED REFERENCE

Hancock, J. A. and G. R. Brassard. 1974. Phenology, sporophyte production and life history of Buxbaumia aphylla in Newfoundland, Canada. Bryologist 77: 501-513.