[5] Plants are thalloid and flattened, with distinct upper and lower surfaces and a faint central strand.

[3] Plants may also reproduce asexually from multicellular gemmae produced in crescent-shaped receptacles on the thallus surface.

[5] This pattern of development is normally found in liverworts from xeric environments, rather than those growing in moist habitats like Cavicularia.

[5] Once the young gametophyte germinates and ruptures the spore coat, it produces a multi-layered mass from which the adult plant will develop.

[7] Cavicularia is classified in the family Blasiaceae along with the genus Blasia,[8] from which it is distinguished by the absence of a collar around the base of the sporophyte capsule, and a clustered arrangement of sperm-producing antheridia.