Plants usually lacking rhizoids, dark green in deeply shaded sites, orange-golden to rusty in exposed sites.

Sporophytes are occasional; capsules mature fall. Predominantly on coniferous forest floors but also in tundra, peatland and in deciduous forest, especially in the boreal region; 0--2000 m; Greenland, Alta., B.C., Man., Nfld., N.B., N.S., N.W.T., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask., Yukon; Alaska, Colo., Conn., Idaho, Iowa, Mass., Md., Me., Mich., Minn., Mont., Neb., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Penn., S.Dak., Tenn., Vt., Va., Wash., W.Va., Wis., Wyo.; Eurasia.