Spanish moss
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Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) closely resembles its namesake (Usnea, or beard lichen), yet is not a moss at all. Instead, it is a flowering plant in the family Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) that grows hanging from tree branches in full sun or partial shade. It ranges from the southeastern United States to Argentina, growing wherever the climate is warm enough and has a relatively high average humidity.
The plant consists of a slender stem bearing alternate thin, curved or curly, heavily scaled leaves 2-6 cm long and 1 mm broad, that grow vegetatively in chain-like fashion (pendant) to form hanging structures 1-2 m in length, occasionally more. The plant lacks roots and its flowers are tiny and rarely produced. It propagates mostly by fragments that blow on the wind and stick to tree limbs, or are carried by birds as nesting material.
Spanish moss is an epiphyte (air plant), which absorbs nutrients (especially calcium) and water from the air and rainfall. It is not a parasite like mistletoe. It can grow so thickly on tree limbs that it gives a somewhat "gothic" appearance to the landscape, but it rarely harms the trees, except for the extra wind resistance in hurricanes. In the southern U.S., the plant seems to show a distinct preference of growth on southern live oak and swamp cypress, but it can colonize in other tree species such as sweetgum, crape-myrtle, other oaks, or even pine.
Spanish moss is sometimes bought for use in arts and crafts, or for beddings for flower gardens, but the plant in its natural habitat can contain chiggers, also known as "redbugs," (which are tick-like arachnids which cause raised welts and considerable itching).
At one time, some 5,000 tons of Spanish moss were harvested and used in the U.S. alone. The plant is susceptible to air pollution.
Former synonyms for this species were Dendropogon usneoides (L.) Raf. and Renealmia usneoides L. In Hawaii, Spanish moss is so frequently found that it has gradually adopted the nickname Pele’s hair after Pele the Hawaiian goddess.
Folklore
Charleston, South Carolina, has told the story of a Cuban who came to the area with his Spanish fiancée in the 1700s to start a plantation near the city. Among other features mentioned for the bride-to-be was her beautiful, flowing raven hair. As the couple was walking thorugh the forest to reach the location of their future plantation, they were attacked and killed by an army of the Cherokee tribe, who were not happy to have these strangers on their land. As a final warning to stay away from the Cherokee nation, they cut off the long, dark hair of the bride-to-be and threw it up into an oak tree. As they came back day after day, week after week, they noticed that the hair had shriveled and turned grey and had also spread throughout the tree. Wherever the Cherokees went, the moss followed them and would eventually chase them out of their homeland of South Carolina. To this day, if one will stand under a live oak tree, one will hear the moaning of the woman and will see the moss jump from tree to tree.
References
- Mabberley, D.J. 1987. The Plant Book. A portable dictionary of the higher plants. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 706 p. ISBN 0521340608.
- [ITIS 42371] 2002-08-25
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