Plants in loose to rather dense pure tufts, dull olive green, becoming dark reddish brown with age. Stems 3-10 cm, arising from a short, erect tuberous rhizome, slender and thread-like, distantly bracteate and appearing almost leafless proximally, ± abruptly leafy distally. Leaves loosely imbricate, 4-6 mm, linear-lanceolate from a sheathing base, the sheath yellowish and nitid, clasping stem; limb reflexed at the shoulders, subtubulose, twisted and contorted when dry, widely spreading and almost plane when moist; costa slender, percurrent, smooth abaxially, ending in a short spine; margins of sheath entire proximally, not hyaline-margined, at shoulders cilia 1-seriate, 0.4-0.6 mm, cells distinctly papillose; no hinge tissue; margins of limb plane, serrations ending in a conical tooth cell, sometimes with 1-2 short cilia near the shoulders; lamina 2-stratose except for a narrow strip just within the margin and locally 1-stratose streaks and patches, adaxial layer of cells strongly bulging mammillose in indistinct longitudinal rows; lamellae 4-5(-9), restricted to the costa, 4-8(-10) cells high, serrations ending in a small toothed cell; sheath cells linear at margin, the median short-rectangular, 23-28 × 6-9 µm; abaxial laminal cells irregularly arranged, subquadrate, 6-10(-12) µm, walls evenly thickened and firm; abaxial costal cells sharply differentiated, narrowly elongate to linear, 25-33(-55) × 5-6 µm. Sexual condition dioicous; male plants like the female, male inflorescence inconspicuous, several to a shoot, separated by sectors with normal vegetative leaves, perigonial bracts with a broader sheath, but otherwise like the leaves; perichaetial leaves scarcely differentiated. Seta rather stout, 7-12 mm. Capsule yellowish brown, erect, 2.5-4 mm, widest at the mouth; exothecial cells short-rectangular, 40-62 × 26-30 µm, smaller and ± isodiametric below mouth, smooth; stomata superficial, confined to the tapering neck; operculum almost as large as urn, beak about 1 mm; peristome none; columella broadly flaring, extending to capsule rim. Calyptra cucullate.

Soil banks or soil over rock, exposed tree roots; usually low to moderate elevations; B.C.; Alaska, Wash.; e Asia (Japan, Russia in Kamtschatka).