Plants: in loose or occasionally dense mats, yellow-green to brownish yellow. Stems: to 10 cm, spreading to ascending, pinnate, branches terete-foliate. Leaves: erect, oblong-ovate, 1.5–2 mm (branch leaves 1–1.3 mm); margins incurved distally, entire; apex rounded-obtuse; ecostate or costa double, short; alar region abruptly differentiated, 2- or 3-stratose, not reaching costa. Sexual: condition dioicous. [Seta reddish, 1.3–2.5 cm. Capsule: cylindric, 2–2.5 mm; annulus 2- or 3-seriate, persistent; operculum conic, obliquely short-rostrate; exostome teeth reddish, external surface cross striolate proximally, obliquely to vertically striolate mid tooth, finely papillose to smooth apically, not perforate; endostome segments smooth. Spores: 11–14 µm].
Soil, rock, calcareous areas. low to high elevations. Alta., B.C., N.B., Nfld. and Labr. (Nfld.), N.W.T., Yukon, Alaska, Colo., N.Mex., Tenn., South America (Ecuador), Eurasia, Pacific Islands (Papua New Guinea).
Entodon concinnus is the most distinctive species in the genus. It is the only dioicous species, the branch and stem leaves are fairly well differentiated (in size), and the alar cells are multistratose (rather than 1-stratose). Sporophytes are unknown in North America; the description here is from European material.