Specialized asexual reproduction, when present. as spheric tubers on proximal rhizoids buried in soil. Perichaetial leaves highly differentiated, closely sheathing, apex obtuse to rounded and laminal cells mostly rhomboid and smooth throughout.

Capsules mature spring-summer (Mar-Aug, Jun). Rock, soil, sand, thin soil on rock, gravel, lava, cement, often associated with limestone or dolomite, bricks and mortar, walls, stumps, woods, fields; low to high elevations (10-3300 m); Greenland; Alta., B.C., Man., N.B., Nfld. and Labr. (Nfld.), N.S., Ont., Que., Sask., Yukon; Ala., Alaska, Ariz., Ark., Calif., Colo., Fla., Ga., Idaho, Ill., Ind., Kans., Ky., La., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Miss., Mo., Mont., N.H., N.J., N.Mex., N.Y., N.C., N.Dak., Ohio, Okla., Oreg., Pa., S.C., S.Dak., Tenn., Vt., Va., Wash., W.Va., Wis.; Central America; Eurasia; Pacific Islands (New Zealand).

Fruiting specimens of var. convoluta with characteristic perichaetial leaves are not uncommon in the far West, and are often robust in stature. The Illinois record is from J. A. McCleary and P. L. Redfearn Jr. (1979). Many collections cited from Florida are actually Barbula indica.