Plants 0.5--2 cm, yellowish green, in tufts, very densely foliate, often ending in a penicillate comal tuft, whitish tomentose,. Leaves 4--5 mm, ovate lanceolate, widest below the middle and contracted at base, narrowed into a more or less long straight, concolorous subula; alar cells hardly developed; basal laminal cells thin-walled and hyaline, very distinctly differentiated from the distal thick-walled and quadrate laminal cells; costa filling 1/2--2/3 of leaf width, shortly excurrent, slightly serrate at tip, in transverse section showing very wide adaxial hyalocysts (easily recognizable in surface view of the costa), filling half of the width of the costa, and abaxial substereids, slightly ridged at back. Specialized asexual reproduction by small, boomerang-shaped leaves produced in the axils of the distal leaves. Sporophyte not known in North America.

Rocks, humus covered boulders and outcrops, also humic or peaty soil; 0--200 m; Ark.; Central America; South America; w Europe; Asia (China, Japan); c Africa; Atlantic Islands (Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands).

This species has only been found in a few localities in B.C. and a single locality in Ark. Campylopus fragilis has been reported from southeastern North America based on the presence of boomerang-shaped brood leaves at the stem tips, however, these records belong to C. surinamensis with similar brood leaves. Campylopus surinamensis differs by rectangular and not quadrate distal laminal cells, a sharply toothed, denticulate, excurrent costa and small adaxial hyalocysts. Brood leaves are produced especially "under stress," unfavorable conditions, especially on small, depauperate plants.