Plants small to moderately robust. Stems 2--10 cm. Leaves narrowly lanceolate, acuminate, 2--3.5 mm; margins revolute nearly throughout; costa serrulate on back above; distal laminal cells 9--22 × 7--8 µm, striate in longitudinal rows. Seta 7--18 mm. Spores ellipsoid, 20--26 µm.

Capsules mature June--Sept. Soil humus, seeps, rocks and crevices of cliffs, both basic and acidic; 225--3900 m.; Greenland; Alta, B.C., N.B., Nfld., N.W.T., N.S., Nun., Ont., P.E.I., Que.; Alaska, Colo., Conn., Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Mich., Minn., Mont., N.H., N.J., N.Y., Oreg., Pa., Vt., Va., Wash., Wis.; n and c Europe, n and c Asia (China, Japan, Indonesia), Pacific Islands (Hawaii).