Plants: small, in mats or tufts, green to yellow-green. Stems: 4 cm, 0.2–0.3 mm wide, curved-ascending, sometimes creeping, irregularly branched. Leaves: erect to erect-spreading, homomallous, narrowly lanceolate, not or faintly striolate, 1–1.8 mm; margins plane to somewhat revolute, entire or somewhat sinuate; apex gradually subulate; ecostate or costa double, very short; basal laminal cells shorter, broader than medial cells, yellow; medial cells elongate, linear, 45–75 × 4–6 µm. : Specialized asexual reproduction rare, by propagula in leaf axils, short, filamentous. Seta: red-brown. Capsule: symmetric, 1.5–2 mm. Spores: 10–14 µm.
Moist shaded calcareous soil, granite, schist, limestone, rock ledges, vertical cliff faces, tundra. moderate elevations (200-1500 m). Greenland, B.C., N.W.T., Nunavut, Que., Yukon, Alaska, n Europe, Asia (China, Japan).
Orthothecium intricatum is distinguished by leaves that are homomallous and narrowly lanceolate, with plane to slightly revolute margins. The stems are yellow-brown; the leaves are occasionally twisted-flexuose when dry; and the setae are 1.5–2 cm. Sporophytes are rare, and a station in Ontario is doubtful.
Pylaisia intricata is a rare species endemic to the flora area. The leaves are homomallous and erect-spreading when dry, wide-spreading when moist, and cordate at the base; the distalmost annulus cells are vesiculose and deciduous. The species is characterized by rather small branch leaves, long-pointed opercula, finely papillose external surface of the distal portion of exostome teeth, and adherent endostome; it can be distinguished from P. polyantha by its adherent endostome and larger spores.