Archegonial plants 8--13 mm in diameter, lobes ovate, involucres generally obscuring the thallus, 1.3--2.6 mm high, nearly obovoid, clavate, tubular, pyriform to nearly globose, orifice small. Antheridial plants ca. 1 mm in diameter, lobes generally arching over the involucres, involucres 250--330 µm high. Sporangia 735--760 µm. Spores remaining in tetrads, 80--125 µm, brownish to nearly black at maturity, aerolae 6--9 across the face, each ca. 12--20 µm in diameter, occasionally with a central tubercle, ridges at the junctions spinose, 7--12 µm high.

Damp soil of fallow fields, sandy soil of tall-grass prairies, and soils of seasonal flooding; Kan., Tex., Mo. (Howell County), S.C. (Chester County), Va. (York County); South America (Argentina); Europe; Atlantic Islands (Canary Islands).

This species is found in in eastern Kansas and a few counties in Texas as scattered and isolated populations, while being rare elsewhere. It is very similar to S. texanus.