What plant is that?

The October Mystery Plant is switch-up in that it is a plant – but not a vascular plant. This common woodland plant grows on soil in clumps of short upright stems clothed with pointed laminate leaves. The fruiting capsules arise on stems called “seta” and initially are covered by a hairy “cap” or calyptra. As opposed to higher plants the plant is a gametophyte (“spore plant”) and the “fruit” is a sporophyte (“vegetative plant”). Very different! But you see this literally everywhere, it is lovely, and should know it by heart.