Spanish moss is an epiphyticflowering plant that often grows upon larger trees in tropical and subtropical climates, native to much of Mexico, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Central America, South America, the Southern United States, West Indies and is also naturalized in Queensland. It is known as "grandpas beard" in French Polynesia. In the United States from where it is most known, it is commonly found on the southern live oak and bald-cypress in the lowlands, swamps, and marshes of the mid-atlantic and southeastern United States from central Delaware to southeastern Virginia to Florida and west to Texas and southern Arkansas. This plant's specific nameusneoides means "resembling Usnea". While it superficially resembles its namesake, Spanish moss is neither a moss nor a lichen like Usnea, and it is not native to Spain. Instead, it is a flowering plant in the family Bromeliaceae which grows hanging from tree branches in full sun through partial shade. Formerly this plant has been placed in the genera Anoplophytum, Caraguata, and Renealmia. The northern limit of its natural range is Northampton County, Virginia, with colonial-era reports in southern Maryland where no populations are now known to be extant. The primary range is in the southeastern United States, through Argentina, growing where the climate is warm enough and has a relatively high average humidity. It has been introduced to similar locations around the world, including Hawaii and Australia.
Description
The plant consists of one or more slender stems bearing alternate thin, curved or curly, heavily scaled leaves long and broad, that grow vegetatively in chain-like fashion, forming hanging structures up to in length. The plant has no aerial roots and its brown, green, yellow, or grey flowers are tiny and inconspicuous. It propagates both by seed and vegetatively by fragments that blow on the wind and stick to tree limbs or are carried by birds as nesting material.
Ecology
Spanish moss is an epiphyte which absorbs nutrients and water through its leaves from the air and rainfall. While it rarely kills the tree upon which it grows, it can occasionally become so thick that it shades the tree's leaves and lowers its growth rate. In the southern U.S., the plant seems to show a preference for growth on southern live oak and bald cypress because of these trees' high rates of foliar mineral leaching providing an abundant supply of nutrients to the plant, but it can also colonize other tree species such as sweetgum, crepe-myrtles, other oaks, and even pines. Spanish moss shelters a number of creatures, including rat snakes and three species of bats. One species of jumping spider, Pelegrina tillandsiae, has been found only on Spanish moss. Chiggers, though widely assumed to infest Spanish moss, were not present among thousands of other arthropods identified in one study.
Culture and folklore
Due to its propensity for growing in subtropical humid southern locales like Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, east and south Texas, and extreme southern Virginia, the plant is often associated with Southern Gothic imagery and Deep South culture. One story of the origin of Spanish moss is called "The Meanest Man Who Ever Lived". The man's white hair grew very long and got caught on trees. Spanish moss was introduced to Hawaii in the 19th century, and became a popular ornamental and lei plant. On Hawai'i it is often called "Pele's hair" after Pele the Hawaiian goddess. The term "Pele's hair" is also used to refer toa type of filamentous volcanic glass.
Human uses
Spanish moss has been used for various purposes, including building insulation, mulch, packing material, mattress stuffing, and fiber. In the early 1900s it was used commercially in the padding of car seats. In 1939 over 10,000 tons of processed Spanish-moss was produced. It is still collected today in smaller quantities for use in arts and crafts, or for beddings for flower gardens, and as an ingredient in the traditional wall covering material bousillage. In some parts of Latin America and Louisiana Spanish moss is used in Nativity scenes. In the desert regions of the southwestern United States, dried Spanish moss plants are sometimes used in the manufacture of evaporative coolers, colloquially known as swamp coolers. These are used to cool homes and offices much less expensively than using air conditioners. A pump squirts water onto a pad made of Spanish moss plants. A fan then pulls air through the pad and into the building. Evaporation of the water on the pads serves to reduce the air temperature, thus cooling the building.
