Specialised asexual propagules absent. Female plants much larger than male plants, green. Male plants green, often purplish. Thallus simple to repetitively forked; thallus cells quadrate, pentagonal or hexagonal. Pseudoperianth cylindric (not in Victoria) or flask-shaped, sessile or stalked (not in Victoria), uni- or bistratose (not in Victoria). Seta absent or short. Capsule with a bulbous foot remaining attached to capsule (not in Victoria) or remaining in thallus on detachment of capsule. Spores areolate, often with raised vertices, yellow-brown (not in Victoria) or dark brown, shed singly (not in Victoria) or in tetrads.
Ten species most diverse in the USA, but also recorded sporadically throughout Europe, northern Africa, Iraq, Nepal, China, Japan, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Uruguay and Australia; one species, S. texanus Austin, naturalised in Victoria.
