Plants: medium-sized, shelf-forming, green to yellowish green, shiny. Stems: creeping, sparsely to irregularly branched; paraphyllia absent. : Secondary stem and branch leaves erect-spreading, oblong-ovate to oblong-obovate, asymmetric, flat; margins entire proximally, serrulate to serrate at apex, teeth not recurved; apex rounded, obtuse, or obtuse-apiculate; costa single [double, very short]; laminal cells rounded-hexagonal to linear, walls porose or not. Sexual: condition autoicous [synoicous or dioicous]; reproductive branches without leaflike paraphyses; perichaetial inner leaves ovate [broadly lanceolate]. Seta: 1–1.5[–2] cm. Capsule: oblong-cylindric [oblong-ovoid]; exostome teeth lanceolate, densely cross striate and papillose basally, vertically papillose and hyaline distally; endostome basal membrane well developed, segments smooth proximally, papillose distally. Spores: 11–14[–16] µm. North America, Mexico, West Indies, Central America, South America (Brazil), Europe, Asia.
Species 5 (1 in the flora). In the field, species of Homalia are easily distinguished by the flat stems and glossy plants. Pseudoparaphyllia are absent in plants in the flora area, but may be present in extrafloral species.