Plants small to medium-sized, green, yellowish, or sometimes brownish, acrocarpous. Stems 2-fid by subfloral innovations; axillary hairs common, minute, claviform. Stem leaves soft, homogeneous along stem or larger and crowded at stem apices, ovate-lanceolate, oblong, or spatulate, broad; margins entire to dentate, sometimes bordered; costa single, strong, usually ending before apex; laminal cells rhomboidal, large; basal cells oblong; distal cells oblong or oblong-hexagonal. Perichaetia with leaves similar, often larger. Seta erect, usually elongate, thin or thick. Capsule erect, exserted, symmetric or slightly curved, neck elongate, or hypophysis wide and inflated or long and narrow, proximal to urn; columella sometimes exserted; stomata many, guard cells 2; annulus usually absent; operculum convex to conic; peristome usually present, single (double in Splachnum); exostome teeth 8-12 or 16, rarely 2-fid, approximate in groups of 2 and 4, densely and finely papillose. Calyptra mitrate or rarely cucullate, smooth, sometimes hairy.
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