Plants light to dark green. Stems 1-3 cm. Leaves distant distally, ovate to obovate, 2.5 × 4 mm; margins entire, not bordered; apex blunt, rounded, or obtuse in proximal leaves, apiculate in distal leaves; costa ending somewhat before apex. Seta reddish orange, 1-3 cm, twisted. Capsule urn dark orange, 1 mm; hypophysis red-purple when moist, globose to ovoid, much wider than urn, rugose and narrower when dry; operculum convex and apiculate to short-conic; exostome teeth inserted near mouth, connate in pairs, pale brown or orange-brown. Spores spheric, 8-13 µm, greenish yellow.

Capsules mature summer. Dung in bogs, wet places; low to high elevations; Greenland; Man., Nfld. and Labr., N.W.T., Nunavut, Que., Yukon; Alaska; n Europe; Asia (Siberia).

Splachnum vasculosum has a more northerly distribution than S. ampullaceum, with which it could be confused. The leaves of S. vasculosum are entire and ovate to obovate with a blunt or blunt-rounded apex and more or less rhomboidal laminal cells. The hypophysis is dark purple and similar in size to the hypophysis of S. ampullaceum, but it is more globose and narrows more abruptly to the thin seta.