Plants in lax to dense tufts, glaucous or dark green. Stems 0.5-1 cm. Leaves erect-appressed when dry, erect and slightly spreading when moist, narrowly lanceolate, 1.5-2.5 mm; base sheathing, shoulders well developed, firm, ; margins plane to weakly revolute proximally, plane distally, serrulate distally, teeth single; apex subulate, ; costa percurrent, prominent in distal limb, distal abaxial surface rough; basal laminal cell walls thin; distal cells 12-25 × 4-6 µm, prorulae high. Sexual condition autoicous or synoicous. Seta 1-2 cm, straight. Capsule erect, globose to ovoid, symmetric, 1-1.5 mm; operculum conic; peristome absent. Spores 24-35 µm.

Capsules mature Aug-Nov. Bare soil in montane tundra; high elevations (3500-4000 m); Colo.; Europe; Asia (China, India, Japan).

Bartramia subulata, limited in the flora area to the high mountains of Colorado, is a diminutive species with erect, symmetric capsules that might be mistaken for B. stricta. The latter species, however, has a well-developed exostome, the leaf base is not sheathing, and shoulders are absent or, at best, weakly developed.