Plants yellow-green, to about 5 mm. Leaves 0.6--2 mm, the distal leaves squarrose and linear-subulate from a sheathing base, the proximal spreading-flexuose and lanceolate; margins plane, usually serrulate at the apex; costa percurrent (nearly filling the slender apex); distal cells 2-stratose, long and narrow (6--8:1). Sexual condition dioicous (also reported to be autoicous). Perichaetial leaves 2--3 mm, plainly squarrose. Seta red, 5--18 mm. Capsule erect or nearly so, tapered to the base and ribbed when dry, 0.7--0.9 mm; annulus of 2 rows of cells, deciduous or persistent; operculum rostrate, sometimes curved; peristome teeth 300--350 µm, divided 1/2 of the length distally. Spores 17--20 µm, papillose to smooth.

Capsules mature spring and summer. Moist, often sandy or silty soil; medium to high elevations; w Greenland; Alta., B.C., Man., Nfld., N.W.T., Nun., Ont., Que., Yukon; Alaska, Calif., Colo., Idaho, Mont., Oreg., Wash., Wyo.; n and c Europe.

The leaves, particularly the distal, are wide-spreading from a clasping base, while the slender capsules are erect, tapered to the base, and distinctly striate. According to R. S. Williams (1913), the male inflorescence may be on a separate branch or separate plant. The list above includes reports by E. Lawton (1971) and D. H. Norris and J. R. Shevock (2002).