The plants are medium sized, forming loose tufts, dark green to yellow green. Corticolous (growing on bark) or saxicolous (growing on rock). The secondary stems are erect, sometimes incurved when dry and generally pinnately branched. The branches are in single plane, they have pseudoparaphyllia (the trichome-like or foliose structures on moss stem surfaces). They are defined by the combination of
epiphytic habit, branching pattern of clusters of branches alternate with unbranched intervals bearing inflorescences, double sporophytic phenological cycle in which two cohorts of sporophytes mature simultaneously with embryos overwintering, subfoliose pseudoparaphyllia, cucullate calyptrae, sheathing post-fertilization perichaetial leaves (the leafy involucre surrounding the fruit stalk), central strands lacking in shoots, shortened
setae (bristles), no
annuli, and an exostome (the outer ring of
peristome teeth) that flexes open when moist and flexes inward when dry (hydrocastique), thus serving to disperse spores during wet periods. ==Genera==