Brachydontium

Autoicous. Asexual propagules absent. Small to c. 5 mm tall, and gregarious or in turves on rocks. Stems simple or sparingly branched near base, glabrous or with rhizoids restricted to very base; central strand present, well-developed. Leaves ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate, erect to erect-spreading when moist from appressed base, scarcely altered, or crisped (not in Victoria) or contorted (not in Victoria) when dry, becoming longer toward stem apex; apex subulate, with a rounded or obtuse tip, without a hairpoint; costa percurrent; margin entire, plane or recurved, without a border; laminal cells quadrate, rhomboid or rectangular, longer toward base, smooth, unistratose throughout. Capsule erect, symmetric, globose (not in Victoria), ovoid, ellipsoid or obloid, striate or rarely smooth (not in Victoria). Calyptra mitrate, smooth or papillose (not in Victoria). Operculum rostrate from a flat or low-conic base. Peristome absent (not in Victoria) or of 16 short, truncate, bifurcate or entire teeth.