Plants medium-sized to large. Stems often with basal stipe region, foliose, simple or pinnate, branches flagelliform; cortical cells orange-brown, walls thick, central strand not differentiated; paraphyllia absent; pseudoparaphyllia filamentous, 1-seriate, hyaline; stolons creeping, becoming erect, inclined, or horizontal, rhizoids usually restricted to stolons. Stolon leaves scalelike, 0.2-1.3 mm; apex short-acute or long-acuminate; usually ecostate. Stipe leaves appressed, erect, or recurved, triangular to ovate-acuminate; base clasping; costa double or single, shorter in distal stem leaves. Stem leaves appressed, erect, spreading, recurved, or squarrose, ovate-acuminate, ovate-orbicular, oblong-lanceolate, oblong-ovate, or ovate-lanceolate, concave; margins plane or rarely revolute to apex, entire, or serrulate distally; costa single or double and short; alar cells little differentiated, or rhombic to quadrate in several rows along margin, or rarely region well differentiated, large, conspicuous; proximal laminal cells at insertion dark yellow, walls porose, thick, irregular; medial cells sinuate or linear-flexuose, smooth, prorate, or rarely 1-papillose, walls often porose; distal cells shorter. Branch leaves similar to or differentiated from stem leaves, narrowly ovate-acuminate, concave, not or weakly plicate, sometimes smaller. Specialized asexual reproduction frequent, by clavate gemmae in clusters in leaf axils, reddish brown, 1-seriate, of 4-12 quadrate or rectangular cells, walls thick, verrucose. Sexual condition dioicous; perigonia on stem and branches, budlike, leaves few, scalelike, paraphyses 1-seriate, antheridia 5-10; perichaetia on stem and branches, urceolate, leaves 8-12, interior ones ovate-acuminate, abruptly narrowed to long, erect awns, paraphyses often present, multiseriate. Seta red-brown, elongate. Capsule erect, exserted, red-brown, narrowed to mouth, smooth; stomata absent; annulus usually absent; operculum short, rounded or conic, rostrate; prostome present; exostome reduced, teeth 16, often in 8 irregular pairs, incurved when dry, erect when moist, lanceolate, often irregular, inserted below mouth, mostly smooth; endostome of remnants adhering to back of exostome, cilia usually absent. Calyptra cucullate, fully or partly covering capsule, with scattered archegonia and paraphyses or smooth, not plicate. Spores spheric or ovoid, 20-35 µm, granulose, green.
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