Plants medium-sized, in thin to dense mats, light to yellowish or dark green, somewhat glossy to glossy. Stems creeping to ascending or erect, simple or sparingly and irregularly branched; hyalodermis present, sometimes indistinct, central strand usually indistinct or absent; pseudoparaphyllia absent (foliose in H. adscendens). Stem and branch leaves similar, spreading to squarrose, , ovate or lanceolate, not or weakly plicate; base decurrent or not; margins plane, serrulate to serrate (serrulate to entire in H. adscendens); apex acuminate to long-acuminate; costa double and short or rarely ecostate; alar cells usually clearly differentiated, few quadrate, rectangular, or abruptly inflated, rounded cells present; laminal cells smooth. Specialized asexual reproduction absent. Sexual condition autoicous or dioicous; perichaetial leaves ovate-lanceolate, apex gradually acuminate, acumen occasionally filiform. Seta light brown to red or yellowish. Capsule erect to inclined, oblong or cylindric, straight to arcuate, often contracted below mouth when dry; annulus 2-or 3-seriate, deciduous, cells large; operculum conic to conic-apiculate; peristome double; exostome teeth with external surface cross striolate proximally, papillose distally; endostome basal membrane high, segments narrow, keeled, cilia 1-3, approximately same length as segments, sometimes absent. Calyptra naked. Spores spheric to ovoid, minutely papillose.
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