Altitudinal range: from the subalpine belt (potential vegetation: open, taiga-like forests dominated by Larix decidua and/or Pinus cembra and Rhododendron) to the alpine belt (potential vegetation: treeless Alpine grasslands and tundras, to the lower limit of perennial snow and the equilibrium line of glaciers)
Note: a species recalling C. nivalis, but with ellipsoid to fusiform ascospores, with wider septal thickenings; usually muscicolous (Andreaea, Grimmia) over siliceous rocks; widespread in the Arctic region; in the Alps so far only known from a single locality, but perhaps sometimes misidentified as C. nivalis.
