Plants yellow-green to green; branches straight to slightly curved at tip; stem and branch leaves 0.7--1.4 mm, erect to spreading; costa 1/2--4/5 (occasionally shorter) leaf length; median and distal cells 30-56 ´ 8-11 µm. Seta 7--14 mm, yellow. Capsule 0.8--2 mm, yellow to brown, exostome yellow to light brown; endostome light orange to golden, 1/3--1 length of exostome. Calyptra 1.7--2 mm. Spores 10--15 µm.

Mature capsules present Jan.--Dec. (mainly Apr.--Oct.). Bark of trees, wet, sheltered niches such as crotches, fissures or knotholes or rarely on logs, stumps or wet rocks; 0--1700 m; N.S., Ont., Que.; Ark., Conn., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., Ky., La., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Miss., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Pa., Tenn., Tex., Vt., Va., W.Va., Wis.; Europe.

The habit of Anacamptodon splachnoides combined with frequent sporophyte production with distinctive, strongly reflexed exostome teeth makes this one of the more easily recognized mosses. The most common substrates for A. splachnoides are knotholes or wet crevices of Fagus grandifolia, Betula spp. and Acer spp.