Plants small, dark-brown to blackish. Leaves lanceolate, stoutly subulate from oblong base, narrowly obtuse; costa ending in apex, filling subula; margins entire; leaf cells (1--)2:1; perichaetial leaves somewhat larger, similar to vegetative leaves, not much differentiated. Seta 0.8--1.2 mm, straight to slightly curved, stout. Capsule hemispheric-obovate to turbinate and flaring at mouth when old; peristome reduced to 16, short, blunt teeth; columella exserted. Spores (20--)23--28(--30) µm.

Calcareous substrates; N.W.T., Que., Yukon; Alaska; Europe.

This species is rare and disjunctive, known only from a few stations in eastern Quebec and from several localities in Alaska and the Yukon. It is distinguished from its closest relative, S. tristichoides, by the branched turf-forming habit, twisted-curved leaves, pronounced turbinate capsules, larger spores, and reduced peristome. The spores are the largest in the genus; that and the persistent columella distinguish this rare species from all others.