Plants forming greenish mats. Branch leaves ± undulate, spirally-twisted or contorted, with distal portions erect when dry, distal leaves erect-spreading to spreading, proximal leaves spreading to wide-spreading and ± undulate when moist, lanceolate-oblong to ovate-lanceolate, 1.5--3 mm, narrowed to long, linear, rigid, fragile subula, proximal leaves often sharply acute; margins entire distally, denticulate by means of projecting ends of cells proximally; costa prominent, vanishing in subula, or in proximal leaves often ending near apex; distal laminal cells 3--6 µm, irregularly-rounded to elliptic-hexagonal, bulging. Sexual condition dioicous, male plants similar to female ones. Seta 5--11 mm. Capsule oblong-cylindric to short-cylindric, 2.2--3.5 mm. Spores 22--32 µm, isomorphic.

Trees and rocks in tropical and subtropical forests; low elevations; Fla.; Mexico (San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas); West Indies; Central America; South America; Asia.

This species has leaves narrowed to a rigid, long subula that is often fragile.