Andreaea

Autoicous or dioicous. Asexual reproduction rarely by filamentous gemmae borne on leaves (not in Victoria). Cushions, turves or mats on acidic rocks, black or blackish with hues of purple, green, bronze, brown or orange. Stems erect, irregularly branched, bearing rhizoids at base, central strand absent. Leaves spirally arranged, monomorphic, wide-spreading to erect-spreading when moist, often secund, scarcely altered to appressed when dry; costa absent or present and extending from ½ leaf length to apex or slightly excurrent (not in Victoria); apices rounded to acuminate, sometimes subulate; margins without a border; cells isodiametric, quadrate or short-rhombic throughout or rectangular to elongate at base in middle and sometimes towards margins, papillose or smooth; alar cells absent. Acrocarpous. Perichaetial leaves differentiated from vegetative leaves or not, sheathing or not (not in Victoria), convolute or not. Setae absent. Capsules exerted or emergent on a pseudopodium composed of gametophytic tissue, erect, symmetric, ellipsoid, ovoid or cylindric (not in Victoria), dehiscing by usually 4, rarely up to 12 (not in Victoria) longitudinal slits. Calyptrae tiny, mitrate, often falling early. Peristome absent.