Thallus forming a thickened, rough, warty crust, white or gray-white. Perithecia usually covered with thin layer of dead fungal hyphae, 0.3 mm broad; immersed in thallus but forming a slight papilla over it; exciple thin, blackish; involucrellum black and over top of perithecium; gelatin 1+ blue quickly turning red; spores ellipsoid or broadly ellipsoid, 7-14-septate transversely, 3-5-septate longitudinally, 25-46 x 14-28 µm.

This species grows over moss and humus. It is known from northern Europe, Siberia, Bear Island, Greenland, and northern North America.