Branches short or elongate, mostly simple. Leaves acuminate, wide-spreading when wet, mostly 1.0--1.2 mm; costa percurrent or nearly so, not spurred, not 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 irregularly linear. Calyptra subcucullate to cucullate. Spores papillose.

Capsules mature Dec.--Apr. Twigs, branches, and trunks of trees in humid forests, sometimes in swamp forests; 0--1060 m; Ala., Fla., Ga., La., Miss., N.C., S.C., Tenn., Tex.

Plants of C. nervosa generally grow in more humid habitats than those of C. glomerata, a species with which its plants are often intermingled. The narrowly pointed leaves of C. nervosa make it easy to recognize in the field. The costa is often so prominent that the leaves of dry plants appear to be plicate.