[1] Its exceedingly large, inoperculate, and often brightly coloured capsules captured the heart of the 19th-century Scandinavian bryologist, who considered the moss to be "of no less interest to the Museologist than is Rafflesia or Welwitschia to the Phanerogamist".

[1] The relationship between P. grandiglobum and P. ovalifolium has been puzzling botanists such as Sainsbury for more than 50 years, and it was not until recently (around 2005) that the New Zealand representative, which was restricted to the vicinity of Mt Arthur on the western coast of South Island, was recognised and given a new name.

[4] Brotherus (1924) placed the genus Pleurophascum in its own suborder Pleurophascineae within the Dicranales, highlighting its characteristic ecostate leaves, the lateral placement of its sex organs, and its large, spherical, and cleistocarpous capsules with immersed stomata.

[1] The ordinal and familial allocation of genus Pleurophascum thus remains as one of Australasia's bryological curiosities and is still open to debate, with molecular techniques and ontogenetic studies perhaps being the most suitable means of unlocking its mystery.

[1] Capsules generally mature between spring to late-autumn, changing from pale green to orange and splitting open at the side to release smooth, oval spores 35-57 μm in diameter.

[1][6] A wombat was proposed as a possible native grazer, though the exact herbivore and whether it affects the dispersal of the species remains to be resolved[6] This family of moss is either comose or hoary and forms loose, yellow- or brown-green turves or cushions.

[4] Its ecostate leaves are broadly elliptic to nearly cochleariform, strongly concave, appressed or erect-spreading, occasionally slightly decurrent; margins erect or narrowly recurved, entire or toothed, and are densely packed at stem apices.

[1] The setae found within the genus are erect, smooth, elongate or very short, and serve to uphold the very large, inoperculate capsules that are globose, discoid or obovoid (depending on the species), and bluntly rostrate or rounded at the apex.