Plants 2-5 mm, yellow-green. Leaves inwardly contorted when dry, oblong to obovate, imbricate, somewhat concave, mostly 2-3 mm; margins serrulate distally by projecting ends of thin-walled cells; costa ending in a subula in distal leaves and ending 1-2 cells before the subula in smaller proximal leaves; apices narrowed to an acumen bearing a short, nearly filiform tip; basal laminal cells rectangular (70-105 × 20-30 µm), some cells forming a small basal auricle, distal cells irregularly hexagonal to oblong-rectangular, little differentiated at the margins. Seta reddish brown with age, 8-10 mm, straight, not hygroscopic. Capsule globose-pyriform with a narrow neck less the half the total length, 1-2 mm, sulcate when dry; exothecial cells irregular to hexagonal, little longer than broad; operculum convex; peristome teeth absent or short irregularly pointed, brownish yellow, endostome absent. Calyptra cucullate, long-beaked, inflated around the capsule, large, smooth. Spores 24-32 µm, bacculate-insulate.

Sandy soil; moderate to high elevations; B.C.; Ariz., Calif., Idaho, Oreg., Wash.; Europe.