Plants: small to robust, tufted or caspitose, dark green to blackish. Stems: erect or repent. Leaves: erect to crispate when dry, margins entire to serrulate or serrate; medial cells smooth or slightly papillose. : Specialized asexual reproduction rare, by 1-seriate gemmae on branched axillary filaments. Seta: straight. Capsule: ovoid to cylindric, symmetric or slightly curved, smooth to wrinkled or ribbed when dry. Calyptra: mitrate, more or less plicate, lobed proximally. Spores: smooth to papillose. Nearly worldwide, mostly in temperate regions.

Species 40–50 (5 in the flora). Excluded Species: Glyphomitrium canadense Mitten This taxon was included for western Canada by G. N. Jones (1933), but was excluded from North America by H. A. Crum (1972) and L. E. Anderson et al. (1990). Crum considered Glyphomitrium canadense to be a synonym of the British G. daviesii (Withering) Bridel and suggested that the specimen on which Mitten based the name came from Great Britain.