This moss has drooping branches at the top of a standing stem, resembling small trees in a micro forest.

T. alleghaniense is common on rocks in moist, wet, and shady gorges and ravines.

Montane and the southeast North America; Piedmont and upper coastal plain; southern Appalachian Mountains, New Brunswick to Ontario and west across Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, south to Georgia, northern Alabama, northeastern Mississippi and Arkansas (Crum et al.

Found on wet/ moist rocks in shady environments and especially on the face cliffs.

Also found in deep gorges on limestone or more acidic, siliceous rock.