Plants gregarious to widely spaced, obvious only when sporophytes present on persistent protonema.

Capsules mature spring. Moist silty to fine sandy banks of somewhat shaded sites; 5--1500 m; Alta., B.C., N.S., N.W.T., Que.; Calif., Ill., Mass., N.J., N.Y., Ohio, Pa., Wash.

This is a very distinctive species: the red--brown peristome on the subspherical to elongate horizontal capsule arising on a twisted seta from a reduced brownish gametophyte and persistent green protonema make it unlike any other North American moss. On the Pacific coast in southwestern British Columbia and adjacent Washington, the sporophyte is often 4 to 5 times the size noted in the rest of its world range. The capsules are often elongate rather than subspheric and setae can exceed 3 cm., compared to less than 1 cm. elsewhere in its range.