Phylogenetic relationships within the moss family Bryaceae were studied using chloroplast DNA sequences (atpB-rbcL, rpl16 intron, rps4, and trnL-trnF region) and anatomical and morphological data. Phylogenetic analyses using maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian methods indicate that the genera Brachymenium, Bryum, and Rhodobryum are not monophyletic. A clade including Acidodontium, Anomobryum, Brachymenium acuminatum, Bryum species, Haplodontium, Mielichhoferia himalayana, and Plagiobryum is robustly supported in all analyses. The sections Brachymenium, Globosa, and Leptostomopsis of Brachymenium occur in a basal grade also including Bryum billarderi and Rhodobryum. The total evidence analysis supports Acidodontium as a monophyletic genus. In general, the results are congruent with previous molecular analyses. Features of the reduced peristome are homoplastic within the Bryaceae, and it is obvious that circumscriptions of taxa based on sporophytic characters alone may unite taxa that are distantly related. The rosulate growth condition is homoplastic within the family, which suggests that the genus Rosulabryum is not monophyletic. Based on present phylogenetic evidence, no morphological synapomorphies can be detected for the Bryaceae.