Cryphaea F. Weber, Tabula Calyptratarum Operculatarum, Musc. Frondos. Gen. 3. 1814.
Greek, cryph, hidden; referring to the immersed sporophytes
William D. Reese
Plants small, dull, green to glaucous- or brownish-green. Branches mostly short, slender, wiry, simple or irregularly branched; axillary hairs 3--4 per axil, with 1(--2) short proximal cells and 2--3 elongate distal cells. Leaves tightly imbricate when dry, mostly wide-spreading when moist, concave, margins plane or somewhat recurved proximally; medial cells smooth or prorulose abaxially, especially distally, mostly smooth adaxially. Perichaetia lateral on branches; interior leaves mostly more or less awned, the awns usually denticulate-roughened. Peristome mostly double, exostome teeth narrowly triangular, papillose; endostome segments narrow, papillose, sometimes indistinct or lacking. Calyptra mostly conic, sometimes almost cucullate, smooth to papillose.
Species ca. 50--60 (4 in the flora): worldwide, mostly tropical and subtropical regions.
Plants of Cryphaea grow in thin or dense colonies, with the slender, often inconspicuous branches standing out from the substrate. The dull, wiry aspect of the spreading, mostly simple branches is characteristic.
SELECTED REFERENCE
Manuel, M. G. 1973. Studies in Cryphaeaceae I. A revision of the genus Cryphaea in North America North of Mexico. Bryologist 76: 144--162.
