1. Stereophyllum Mitten, J. Proc. Linn. Soc., Bot. suppl.: 117. 1859. • [Greek stereos, thick, and phyllon, leaf].
Glossophyllum (Müller Hal.) Hampe; Hypnum sect. Glossophyllum Müller Hal.
Plants in thin to dense mats, pale to yellow-green, sometimes brownish, dull. Stems with central strand absent or poorly developed; axillary hair apical cells 4. Stem and branch leaves similar, stiff, close, imbricate and somewhat contorted when dry, erect-spreading when moist, oblong-ovate to nearly lingulate, symmetric, not plicate; margins plane, entire or serrulate near apex; apex abruptly acute to obtuse, sometimes apiculate; costa 2/3-3/4 leaf length; laminal cell walls thick; medial and distal cells quadrate to rhomboidal, 1-papillose over lumina on both surfaces or sometimes smooth. Perigonia with leaves costate. Perichaetia at base of stems, leaves oblong-lanceolate, costate, proximal laminal cells rectangular, distal cells linear-flexuose. Seta orange to reddish, straight to somewhat flexuose. Capsule cernuous or rarely erect, orange to brown, ellipsoid to ovoid; exothecial cell walls thin; annulus persistent, 2- or 3-seriate, cell walls firm; operculum short-rostrate, sometimes oblique; exostome teeth shouldered, internal surface projecting; endostome finely papillose, basal membrane high, segments almost as long as exostome teeth, cilia 1-3, shorter than segments. Spores spheric to ovoid, 12-24 µm.
Species 2 (1 in the flora): sc, se United States, Mexico, West Indies, Central America, South America, Asia, Africa, Pacific Islands (Philippines), Australia.
The second species in the genus, Stereophyllum linisii Enroth & B. C. Tan, was described in 2007 from the Philippines.
