Plants often appearing feathery, in loose tufts, dark green and glossy, occasionally yellowish green or brown with age. Stems erect, sometimes curved or curled, to 6 cm or more, solitary or occasionally branched, often grooved below; densely tomentose at base (to ca. 5 mm from base), rhizoids dark rusty-red, papillose. Leaves distant on stem, crispate and curled when dry, erect-spreading to wide-spreading when wet, linear to linear-subulate, (5--)6--8 ´ 0.40--0.75 mm, somewhat concave or folded, apex often terminating in a double tooth, base undifferentiated or occasionally indistinctly decurrent; margins plane, slightly recurved at base, in transverse section 2-stratose, 1-stratose at base; laminal cells uniformly subquadrate to short-rectangular, (7--)10--14 µm; marginal basal cells quadrate to rectangular, 14--30 ´ 10 µm. Seta pale yellowish orange or straw-colored, 4--6 cm. Capsule ellipsoid-cylindric, (1.5--)2--3 mm, neck short; exothecial cells hexagonal, thick-walled; stomata several at urn base and neck; operculum 1.5--2 mm, oblique; exostome teeth reddish orange basally, pale yellow or hyaline distally, endostome segments pale yellow or hyaline, lightly papillose. Calyptra ca. 3.5 mm. Spores 16--18 µm.

Capsules mature Dec.--Apr. Forest, base of tree trunks, logs, soil; Ala., Fla., Ga., La., Miss.; Mexico; West Indies; Central America; South America; Asia; Africa; Pacific Islands; Australia.

This species is characteristic of the southeastern U.S.A. coastal region.