Plants to 6 cm, in thin mats, green to yellow-green. Stems irregularly branched, smooth; paraphyllia, when present, squamiform. Leaves ovate, to 1.6 mm; margins serrate, limbidium indistinctly present; apex long, narrow, hair-point present; costa ending before apex, abaxial surface smooth; distal medial laminal cells short, isodiametric, 6-8 µm, multipapillose. Seta 1-1.5 cm, rough. Capsule inclined to horizontal, broadly oval to suborbicular, 1.2-1.8 mm; operculum long-rostrate. Spores 12-15 µm, smooth.

Rock, soil over rock; moderate to high elevations; Alta., B.C.; Alaska, Calif., Idaho, Mont., Oreg., Wash.; e Asia (Russia [Commander Islands]).