Specialized asexual reproduction, when present. as spheric tubers on proximal rhizoids buried in soil. Perichaetial leaves highly differentiated, closely sheathing, apex obtuse to rounded and laminal cells mostly rhomboid and smooth throughout.

Capsules mature in spring and summer (Mar.--Aug., June). Rock, soil, sand, thin soil on rock, gravel, lava, cement, often associated with limestone or dolomite, bricks and mortar, walls, stumps, woods, fields; 10--3300 m; Greenland; Alta., B.C., Man., N.B., Nfld., N. S., Ont., Que., Sask., Yukon; Ala., Alaska, Ariz., Ark., Calif., Colo., Fld., Ga., Idaho, Ill. (McCleary, J. A. and P. L. Redfearn, Jr. 1979), Ind., Kan., Ky., La., Maine, Mass., Md., Mich., Minn., Miss., Mo., Mont., N.Dak., N.H., N.J., N.Mex., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Okla., Ore., Pa., S.C., S.Dak., Tenn., Vt., Va., Wash., W.Va., Wis.; Central America; Eurasia; New Zealand.

Barbula closteri C. F. Austin, placed with B. indica (as B. cruegeri) by W. C. Steere (1939), is taxonomically the typical variety of B. convoluta by the simply papillose abaxial surface of the costa; the large rhizoidal tubers in the type collection are like those of B. indica var. gregaria. Fruiting specimens with characteristic perichaetial leaves are not uncommon in the far West, often robust in stature. Many collections cited from Florida are actually B. indica.