Spanish moss

Spanish moss
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
(unranked): Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Bromeliaceae
Genus: Tillandsia
Subgenus: Diaphoranthema
Species: T. usneoides
Binomial name
Tillandsia usneoides
(L.) L., 1762[1]
Synonyms[2]
  • Renealmia usneoides L.
  • Dendropogon usneoides (L.) Raf.
  • Strepsia usneoides (L.) Nutt. ex Steud.
  • Tillandsia trichoides Kunth
  • Tillandsia filiformis Lodd. ex Schult. & Schult.f.
  • Tillandsia crinita Willd. ex Beer

Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) is a flowering plant that often grows upon larger trees, commonly the southern live oak (Quercus virginiana) and bald-cypress (Taxodium distichum) in the lowlands and savannas of southeastern United States from Texas and Florida north through southern Arkansas and Virginia.[3][4] It is also native to much of Mexico, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Central America, South America and the West Indies as well as being naturalized in Queensland (Australia) and in French Polynesia.[2]

This plant's specific name usneoides means "resembling Usnea", and it indeed superficially resembles its namesake Usnea, also known as beard lichen, but in fact Spanish moss is neither a moss nor a lichen. Instead, it is a flowering plant (angiosperm) in the family Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) 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.[5] The northern limit of its natural range is Northampton County,[6] Virginia, with unsubstantiated colonial-era reports in southern Maryland where no populations are now known to be extant. The primary range is in the southeastern United States (including Puerto Rico), 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 2–6 cm (0.8–2.4 in) long and 1 mm (0.04 in) broad, that grow vegetatively in chain-like fashion (pendant), forming hanging structures up to 6 m (240 in)[7] in length. The plant has no aerial roots[7] and its brown, green, or yellow 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

Close-up of Spanish moss

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.[7]

In the southern U.S., the plant seems to show a preference for growth on southern live oak (Quercus virginiana) and bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) because of these trees' high rates of foliar mineral leaching (calcium, magnesium, potassium, and phosphorus) providing an abundant supply of nutrients to the plant,[8] but it can also colonize other tree species such as sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), crepe-myrtles (Lagerstroemia spp.), 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.[9] Chiggers, though widely assumed to infest Spanish-moss, were not present among thousands of other arthropods identified in one study.[10]

Culture and folklore

Spanish-moss with open seed capsule in Santee National Wildlife Refuge, South Carolina.

Due to its propensity for growing in subtropical humid southern locales like Georgia, South Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, North Carolina, southeastern Virginia, east and south Texas, and Alabama, the plant is often associated with Southern Gothic imagery and Deep South culture.

It was introduced to Hawaii in the 19th century, and became a popular ornamental and lei plant.[11] 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 to a type of filamentous volcanic glass.

Human uses

Spanish-moss under 20x magnification, showing scale-like trichomes.

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.[12] In 1939 over 10,000 tons of processed Spanish-moss was produced.[13] 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, Spanish moss is used in Nativity scenes.

In the desert regions of the southwestern United States, dried Spanish-moss plants are 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.[14]

Cultivars

Hybrids

References

  1. ↑ "Tillandsia usneoides (L.) L.". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. 1999-02-26. Retrieved 2009-12-08.
  2. 1 2 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, Tillandsia usneoides
  3. ↑ Flora of North America, Tillandsia usneoides (Linnaeus) Linnaeus, Sp. Pl., ed. 2. 1: 411. 1762.
  4. ↑ Biota of North America Program, 2013 county distribution map
  5. ↑ Genus: Tillandsia L., GRIN Taxonomy for Plants, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture.
  6. ↑ http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/state-regional/virginia-scientists-search-for-northernmost-realm-of-spanish-moss/article_4e584659-2f01-5b80-b6d2-dff5092305e1.html
  7. 1 2 3 "Tillandsia usneoides". Floridata Plant Encyclopedia.
  8. ↑ Schlesinger, William H.; Marks, P. L. (1977). "Mineral Cycling and the Niche of Spanish Moss, Tillandsia usneoides L.". American Journal of Botany. 64 (10): 1254–1262. JSTOR 2442489.
  9. ↑ http://www.tpwmagazine.com/archive/2011/feb/scout1/
  10. ↑ Whitaker Jr., J; Ruckdeschel, C. (2010). "Spanish Moss, the Unfinished Chigger Story". Southeastern Naturalist. 9 (1): 85–94.
  11. ↑ "Nā Lei o Hawai`i - Types of Lei".
  12. ↑ "Hair From Trees....Spanish-moss is new upholstering material". Popular Science. June 1937.
  13. ↑ Adams, Dennis. Spanish Moss: Its Nature, History and Uses. Beaufort County Library, SC.
  14. ↑ Gutenberg, Arthur William (1955). The Economics of the Evaporative Cooler Industry in the Southwestern United States. Stanford University Graduate School of Business. p. 167.
  15. ↑ Bromeliad Cultivar Registry: Tillandsia 'Maurice's Robusta'
  16. ↑ Bromeliad Cultivar Registry: Tillandsia 'Munro's Filiformis'
  17. ↑ Bromeliad Cultivar Registry: Tillandsia 'Odin's Genuina'
  18. ↑ Bromeliad Cultivar Registry: Tillandsia 'Spanish Gold'
  19. ↑ Bromeliad Cultivar Registry: Tillandsia 'Tight and Curly'
  20. ↑ Bromeliad Cultivar Registry: Tillandsia 'Nezley'
  21. ↑ Bromeliad Cultivar Registry: Tillandsia 'Kimberly'
  22. ↑ Bromeliad Cultivar Registry: Tillandsia 'Old Man's Gold'
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