Stems to 0.5 cm. Stem leaves ovate-deltoid to short-lanceolate, 1--1.5 mm, distal margins once- to almost twice-revolute; apex narrowly acute below the awn; costa ending in a long apiculus or short awn, adaxial surface of costa at midleaf convex, with 2--3 guide cells; distal laminal cells 10--13 µm wide, 1:1. Specialized asexual reproduction absent. Perichaetial leaves weakly [strongly] differentiated. Sporophytes not seen.

Thin soil, lawns, limestone, bluff overlook, gardens; 20--215 m; B.C.; Mass.; Eurasia; Africa; Australia.

First reported for North America from British Columbia by B. C. Tan et al. (1981), then from Massachusetts by B. D. Mishler and N. G. Miller (1983), apparently associated with ornamental cultivation. This species differs from P. obtusulum by the narrowly acute apex with a long apiculus or short awn. Both perigoniate and archegoniate plants are present in the West (B.C.), though at different sites, while only perichaetiate plants are found in the East (Mass.).