Branches short to elongate, mostly simple. Leaves broadly acute, wide-spreading when wet, mostly 0.8--1.2 mm; costa ending at midleaf or in base of acumen, often laterally spurred and often more or less 2-fid at tip. Interior perichaetial leaves mostly 1.6--1.9 mm; awn usually distinct, denticulate, about 1/5--1/4 length of expanded portion of leaf. Peristome double; exostome teeth single; endostome segments linear, slender. Calyptra broadly conic. Spores smooth or papillose.

Capsules mature Sept.--June. Twigs, branches, and trunks of shrubs and trees, on logs, rarely on rock, in humid forests; 0--1000 m; Ala., Ark., Conn., Del., Fla., Ga., Ky., La., Md., Mass., Miss., Mo., N.J., N.C., Ohio, Okla., S.C., Tenn., Tex., Va.

Cryphaea glomerata often grows mixed with C. nervosa, but the two can be easily distinguished under low magnification by the more narrowly pointed and plicate-appearing leaves of C. nervosa. The ranges of C. glomerata and the subtropical C. filiformis overlap in southern Florida. Cryphaea glomerata is similar to and often occurs with C. ravenelii