Plants: in lax to dense tufts, sometimes viny, reddish brown proximally, yellowish green to green distally. Stems: 1–5 cm, erect to ascending, simple or fastigiate; octagonal in cross section, hyalodermis absent, epidermis prorulose; radiculose proximally, rhizoids papillose. Leaves: not in distinct rows or rarely in 5 rows, imbricate, appressed when dry, erect to spreading or recurved when moist, narrowly lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, 1–3-stratose (sometimes 3- or 4-stratose at margins); base not sheathing; margins revolute in distal 1/2, sometimes almost to base, serrate, teeth single or paired; apex acute, acuminate, or rarely obtuse; costa percurrent to long-excurrent, abaxial surface rough or smooth; basal laminal cells shorter, wider than distal cells; distal cells usually oblong to linear or quadrate, strongly prorulose to nearly smooth, walls thick. : Specialized asexual reproduction unknown. Sexual: condition dioicous; perigonia gemmiform; perichaetial leaves scarcely distinct. Seta: single, short to elongate, straight or somewhat curved. Capsule: erect to inclined, globose to ovoid, irregularly wrinkled when dry, mouth small; annulus absent or scarcely developed; operculum short-conic to conic-obtuse; peristome absent, of low membrane, or exostome teeth yellow to reddish brown, short, fragile, apically free; endostome rare, very faint. Spores: globose to reniform, warty or coarsely papillose. North America, Mexico, West Indies, Central America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa.
Species 4 (2 in the flora). Anacolia is recognized by its imbricate, appressed leaves, borne on prorulose stems that are felty tomentose proximally. The basal juxtacostal laminal cells are sometimes linear; the perigonia and perichaetia are terminal, appearing lateral by innovations; the capsule is leptodermous; and the capsule neck is very short or absent. When fertile, the usually erect, irregularly wrinkled capsules are distinctive. Within the flora area, Anacolia is confined to western North America.