Plants large, with shoots 30 80 ´ 3 3.6 mm, decumbent to ascending when crowded, forming thick mats or tufts, green to reddish or purplish brown. Stems 480 550 µm in diameter, simple or sparingly branched with terminal branches; cortical cells 28 40, thin walled, medullary cells 32 40 with small trigones. Leaves succubous oblique, spreading, imbricate, orbicular to broadly ovate, 1.5 2 ´ 1.8 2.4 mm, slightly concave at the base, convex distally or with deflexed margins; leaf cells large, median cells 45 60 ´ 40 45 µm, smaller along margins, ca. 35 45 µm; cuticle rough, finely fissured forming plates; trigones large and bulging, knotlike; oil bodies 7 12 per cell, ellipsoidal, large, 15 18 ´ 8 10 µm, coarsely granular, opaque, brownish gray, partially obscuring the cell lumen. Underleaves distinct, subulate to lanceolate, up to 0.5 mm, hidden among rhizoids. Specialized asexual propagation frequent, by gemmae on margins of broadly ovate distal leaves, elliptical to ovate, 25 30 ´ 40 45 µm, 1 2 celled, brownish. Androecia intercalary; bracts 4 8 pairs, imbricate, similar to leaves with saccate base; antheridia 2 3 per bract. Gynoecia terminal on main stem, often with 1 2 subfloral innovations; bracts entire, similar to and slightly larger than leaves, ca. 2 ´ 2.2 mm; bracteole lanceolate, large, to 0.7 mm; perianth partially hidden by bracts, exerted ca. 1/2 its length, laterally compressed, the mouth contracted, ciliate, the cilia 4 6 cells long.

Moist mountains on humus over outcrops and in rocky crevices with at least a small accumulation of peat; s Greenland; B.C., Nfld., N.S.; Alaska, Maine, N.H., N.Y., N.C., Tenn., Wash.; Europe; eAsia.