Plants gregarious, green to yellow-green. Stems 0.2-1 cm, gemmiform to strongly rounded julaceous. Leaves erect when moist, ovate, somewhat concave, 0.3-1(-1.2) base red; margins plane; apex broadly acute, not cucullate, not hyaline distally; costa not reaching apex, apiculus absent; proximal laminal cells quadrate or short-rectangular, 8-12 µm wide, 1-2:1; distal cells of main (fertile) stem and innovation leaves linear-vermicular to elongate-hexagonal, (60-)70-90(-100) × 6-10(-12)µm, (6-)8-10:1, walls thick. Specialized asexual reproduction by leaf axil bulbils, leafy, small. Seta red to red-brown, 1-2 cm. Capsule red to red-brown, ovate, 1-2 mm; hypophysis differentiated, somewhat thickened and rugose when dry. Spores 10-18 µm.

Capsules mature Jun-Aug (summer). Calcareous mineral soil, soil banks, cold-temperate to arctic-alpine regions; low to high elevations (0-3500 m); Greenland; B.C., N.W.T., Nunavut, Ont., Yukon; Calif., Colo., Maine, Mont.; n Eurasia.

One of the two collections of Bryum blindii from Colorado has leaves with strongly excurrent costae and relatively short distal laminal cells (3-5:1); it is not typical material of the species.