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Spanish moss

January 31, 2023

Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) is an epiphytic flowering plant that often grows upon large trees in tropical and subtropical climates. It is native to much of Mexico, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Central America, South America, the Southern United States, and West Indies. It has been naturalized in Queensland (Australia). It is known as "grandpa's beard" in French Polynesia.[3]

Spanish moss
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Bromeliaceae
Genus: Tillandsia
Subgenus: Tillandsia subg. Diaphoranthema
Species:
T. usneoides
Binomial name
Tillandsia usneoides
(L.) L., 1762[2]
Synonyms[3]
  • 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

Most known in the United States, it commonly is found on the southern live oak (Quercus virginiana) and bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) in the lowlands, swamps, and marshes of the mid-Atlantic and southeastern states, from the coast of southeastern Virginia to Florida and west to southern Arkansas and Texas.[4][5]

The specific name of the plant, usneoides, means "resembling Usnea", a lichen.[6] While it superficially resembles its namesake, it is neither a lichen such as Usnea nor a moss, and it is not native to Spain.

It is a flowering plant (angiosperm) in the family Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) that grows hanging from tree branches in full sun through partial shade. Formerly, it was placed in the genera Anoplophytum, Caraguata, and Renealmia.[7] The northern limit of its natural range is Northampton County, Virginia,[8] with colonial-era reports of it in southern Maryland,[9][page needed][10][11][12] where no populations are now known to exist.[12] Its primary range is in the southeastern United States (including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands) through Argentina, where the climate is warm enough and a relatively high average humidity occurs.

It has been introduced to locations around the world with similar conditions, including Hawaii and Australia.

Description

 
Close-up of Spanish moss

Spanish moss consists of one or more slender stems, bearing alternate thin, curved or curly, and heavily scaled leaves 2–6 cm (0.8–2.4 inches) long and 1 mm (0.04 inches) broad, that grow vegetatively in a chain-like fashion (pendant), forming hanging structures of up to 6 m (20 feet).[13]

The plant has no roots,[14][13] and its brown, green, yellow, or grey flowers are tiny and inconspicuous. It propagates both by seed and vegetatively by fragments that are carried on the wind and stick to tree limbs or that are carried to other locations by birds as nesting material.

Ecology

 
Spanish moss growing along the limb of a tree

Spanish moss is not parasitic: it is an epiphyte that absorbs nutrients and water through its own leaves from the air and rain falling upon it. While its presence rarely kills the trees on which it grows, it occasionally becomes so thick that, by shading the leaves of the tree, it slows the growth rate of the tree.[13] It can use the water-conserving strategy of crassulacean acid metabolism for photosynthesis.[15][16]

In the southern U.S., the plant seems to show preferences for southern live oak (Quercus virginiana) and bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) because of their high rates of foliar mineral leaching (calcium, magnesium, potassium, and phosphorus) that provides an abundant supply of nutrients to the epiphytic plant.[17] 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.[18] Although widely presumed to infest Spanish moss, in one study of the ecology of the plant, chiggers were not present among thousands of other arthropods identified on the plant.[19]

Culture and folklore

Spanish moss is often associated with Southern Gothic imagery and Deep South culture, due to its propensity for growing in subtropical humid southern locales such as Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, east and south Texas, and extreme southern Virginia.

One anecdote about the origin of Spanish moss is called "The Meanest Man Who Ever Lived", in which the man's white hair grew very long and got caught on trees.[20]

Spanish moss was introduced to Hawaii in the nineteenth century. It became a popular ornamental and lei plant.[21] In Hawaii, it was named "ʻumiʻumi-o-Dole" after the beard of Sanford B. Dole, the first president of the Provisional Government of Hawaii. It is also known as hinahina, ("silvery") borrowing the name of the native heliotrope used in lei until shoreline development made access difficult. It has become a substitute for the native hinahina in lei used for pageantry. In the early 21st century the plant was heavily marketed as "Pele's hair"/"lauoho-o-Pele," which actually refers to a type of filamentous volcanic glass.)

Human uses

 
Spanish moss under 20x magnification, showing scale-like trichomes
 
Tillandsia 'Munro's Filiformis'
 
Tillandsia 'Odin's Genuina'

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.[22] More than 10,000 tons of processed Spanish moss was produced in 1939.[23] Today, it is collected in smaller quantities for use in arts and crafts, as bedding for flower gardens, and as an ingredient in bousillage, a traditional wall covering material. In some parts of Latin America and Louisiana, it is used in nativity scenes.

In the desert regions of southwestern United States, dried Spanish moss is sometimes used in the manufacture of evaporative coolers, colloquially known as "swamp coolers" (and in some areas as "desert coolers"), which are used to cool homes and offices much less expensively than air conditioners. The cooling technology uses a pump that 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 air temperature, cooling the building.[24]

Varieties and cultivars

  • Tillandsia 'Maurice's Robusta'[25]
  • Tillandsia 'Munro's Filiformis' – a natural variety with very fine, green leaves that is native to Paraguay and that is also known in the United States by the trade designations Tillandsia usneoides El Finito and Silver Ghost, it conforms to the description of the now-defunct variety Tillandsia usneoides var. filiformis (André) Mez[26]
  • Tillandsia 'Odin's Genuina' : a natural variety with brown rather than green or yellow flower petals that is native to Guatemala and Mexico[27]
  • Tillandsia 'Spanish Gold'[28]
  • Tillandsia 'Tight and Curly'[29]

Hybrids

See also

  • Lace lichen, an organism of similar habit and appearance

References

  1. ^ Treviño Zevallos, I. (2019). "Tillandsia usneoides". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2019: e.T131368905A131369229. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T131368905A131369229.en. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  2. ^ "Tillandsia usneoides". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 2009-12-08.
  3. ^ a b Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, Tillandsia usneoides
  4. ^ Luther, Harry E.; Brown, Gregory K. (2000). "Tillandsia usneoides". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). Vol. 22. New York and Oxford – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  5. ^ "Tillandsia usneoides". County-level distribution map from the North American Plant Atlas (NAPA). Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2014.
  6. ^ Damrosch, B.; Neal, B. (2003). Gardener's Latin: A Lexicon. Chapel Hill, N.C: Algonquin Books. p. 129. ISBN 978-1-56512-743-2. OCLC 856021571. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
  7. ^ "Tillandsia". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
  8. ^ Times-Dispatch, REX SPRINGSTON Richmond. "Virginia scientists search for northernmost realm of Spanish moss". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved 2017-10-26.
  9. ^ Ray, John (1688). "Historiæ Plantarum Tomus Secondus: cum Duplici Indice; Generali Altero Nominum & Synonymorum præcipuorum; Altero Affectuum & Remediorum: Accessit Nomenclator Botanicus Anglo-Latinus". Translated by Raii, Joannis. London.
  10. ^ "Plants profile for Tillandsia usneoides". USDA.
  11. ^ "Rare, Threatened, and Endangered Plants of Maryland" (PDF).
  12. ^ a b Brown, M.L., and R.G. Brown (1984). Herbaceous plants of Maryland. Baltimore: Port City Press, Inc.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  13. ^ a b c "Tillandsia usneoides". Floridata Plant Encyclopedia.
  14. ^ "Sustainability-Spanish Moss". Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS), UF. 2020-05-06. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
  15. ^ Kluge, M; Lange, O L; Eichmann, M V; Schmid, R (1973). "CAM in Tillandsia usneoides: Studies on the pathway of carbon and the dependency of CO2-exchange on light intensity, temperature and water content of the plant (in German)". Planta. 112 (4): 357–72. doi:10.1007/BF00390308. PMID 24468815.
  16. ^ Haslam, Richard; Borland, Anne; Maxwell, Kate; Griffiths, Howard (2003). "Physiological responses of the CAM epiphyte Tillandsia usneoides L. (Bromeliaceae) to variations in light and water supply". Journal of Plant Physiology. 160 (6): 627–34. doi:10.1078/0176-1617-00970. PMID 12872484.
  17. ^ 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. doi:10.2307/2442489. JSTOR 2442489.
  18. ^ Wildlife, State of Texas, Parks and. "Flora Fact:| Spanish Moss Serves as Nature's Draperies". www.tpwmagazine.com. Retrieved 2017-10-26.
  19. ^ Whitaker Jr., J; Ruckdeschel, C. (2010). "Spanish Moss, the Unfinished Chigger Story". Southeastern Naturalist. 9 (1): 85–94. doi:10.1656/058.009.0107. S2CID 86228838.
  20. ^ Friedman, Amy; Johnson, Meredith (May 28, 2017). "The Meanest Man Who Ever Lived (An American Folktale)". Uexpress. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  21. ^ "Nā Lei o Hawai'i – Types of Lei". Archived from the original on 2013-01-03.
  22. ^ "Hair From Trees....Spanish-moss is new upholstering material". Popular Science. June 1937.
  23. ^ . Archived from the original on 2017-02-01. Retrieved 2009-06-20.
  24. ^ Gutenberg, Arthur William (1955). The Economics of the Evaporative Cooler Industry in the Southwestern United States. Stanford University Graduate School of Business. p. 167.
  25. ^ Bromeliad Cultivar Registry: Tillandsia 'Maurice's Robusta'
  26. ^ Bromeliad Cultivar Registry: Tillandsia 'Munro's Filiformis'
  27. ^ Bromeliad Cultivar Registry: Tillandsia 'Odin's Genuina'
  28. ^ Bromeliad Cultivar Registry: Tillandsia 'Spanish Gold'
  29. ^ Bromeliad Cultivar Registry: Tillandsia 'Tight and Curly'
  30. ^ Bromeliad Cultivar Registry: Tillandsia 'Nezley'
  31. ^ Bromeliad Cultivar Registry: Tillandsia 'Kimberly'
  32. ^ Bromeliad Cultivar Registry: Tillandsia 'Old Man's Gold'
  • Mabberley, D.J. 1987. The Plant Book. A Portable Dictionary of the Higher Plants. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. ISBN 0-521-34060-8.

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Tillandsia usneoides (category)
  • Spanish Moss: Its History, Nature and Uses — Beaufort County Library 2017-02-01 at the Wayback Machine
  • Florida Spanish Moss: Theory — Does Spanish Moss kill trees?
  • What’s in a name? Itla-okla, ʻUmiʻumi-o-Dole, Spanish Moss
  • Flowers Used for Lei

January 31, 2023
spanish, moss, tillandsia, usneoides, epiphytic, flowering, plant, that, often, grows, upon, large, trees, tropical, subtropical, climates, native, much, mexico, bermuda, bahamas, central, america, south, america, southern, united, states, west, indies, been, . Spanish moss Tillandsia usneoides is an epiphytic flowering plant that often grows upon large trees in tropical and subtropical climates It is native to much of Mexico Bermuda the Bahamas Central America South America the Southern United States and West Indies It has been naturalized in Queensland Australia It is known as grandpa s beard in French Polynesia 3 Spanish mossConservation statusLeast Concern IUCN 3 1 1 Scientific classificationKingdom PlantaeClade TracheophytesClade AngiospermsClade MonocotsClade CommelinidsOrder PoalesFamily BromeliaceaeGenus TillandsiaSubgenus Tillandsia subg DiaphoranthemaSpecies T usneoidesBinomial nameTillandsia usneoides L L 1762 2 Synonyms 3 Renealmia usneoides L Dendropogon usneoides L Raf Strepsia usneoides L Nutt ex Steud Tillandsia trichoides Kunth Tillandsia filiformis Lodd ex Schult amp Schult f Tillandsia crinita Willd ex BeerMost known in the United States it commonly is found on the southern live oak Quercus virginiana and bald cypress Taxodium distichum in the lowlands swamps and marshes of the mid Atlantic and southeastern states from the coast of southeastern Virginia to Florida and west to southern Arkansas and Texas 4 5 The specific name of the plant usneoides means resembling Usnea a lichen 6 While it superficially resembles its namesake it is neither a lichen such as Usnea nor a moss and it is not native to Spain It is a flowering plant angiosperm in the family Bromeliaceae the bromeliads that grows hanging from tree branches in full sun through partial shade Formerly it was placed in the genera Anoplophytum Caraguata and Renealmia 7 The northern limit of its natural range is Northampton County Virginia 8 with colonial era reports of it in southern Maryland 9 page needed 10 11 12 where no populations are now known to exist 12 Its primary range is in the southeastern United States including Puerto Rico and the U S Virgin Islands through Argentina where the climate is warm enough and a relatively high average humidity occurs It has been introduced to locations around the world with similar conditions including Hawaii and Australia Contents 1 Description 2 Ecology 3 Culture and folklore 4 Human uses 5 Varieties and cultivars 5 1 Hybrids 6 See also 7 References 8 External linksDescription Edit Close up of Spanish moss Spanish moss consists of one or more slender stems bearing alternate thin curved or curly and heavily scaled leaves 2 6 cm 0 8 2 4 inches long and 1 mm 0 04 inches broad that grow vegetatively in a chain like fashion pendant forming hanging structures of up to 6 m 20 feet 13 The plant has no roots 14 13 and its brown green yellow or grey flowers are tiny and inconspicuous It propagates both by seed and vegetatively by fragments that are carried on the wind and stick to tree limbs or that are carried to other locations by birds as nesting material Ecology Edit Spanish moss growing along the limb of a tree Spanish moss is not parasitic it is an epiphyte that absorbs nutrients and water through its own leaves from the air and rain falling upon it While its presence rarely kills the trees on which it grows it occasionally becomes so thick that by shading the leaves of the tree it slows the growth rate of the tree 13 It can use the water conserving strategy of crassulacean acid metabolism for photosynthesis 15 16 In the southern U S the plant seems to show preferences for southern live oak Quercus virginiana and bald cypress Taxodium distichum because of their high rates of foliar mineral leaching calcium magnesium potassium and phosphorus that provides an abundant supply of nutrients to the epiphytic plant 17 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 18 Although widely presumed to infest Spanish moss in one study of the ecology of the plant chiggers were not present among thousands of other arthropods identified on the plant 19 Culture and folklore Edit Spanish moss with open seed capsule in Santee National Wildlife Refuge South Carolina Spanish moss is often associated with Southern Gothic imagery and Deep South culture due to its propensity for growing in subtropical humid southern locales such as Alabama Florida Georgia Louisiana Mississippi North Carolina South Carolina east and south Texas and extreme southern Virginia One anecdote about the origin of Spanish moss is called The Meanest Man Who Ever Lived in which the man s white hair grew very long and got caught on trees 20 Spanish moss was introduced to Hawaii in the nineteenth century It became a popular ornamental and lei plant 21 In Hawaii it was named ʻumiʻumi o Dole after the beard of Sanford B Dole the first president of the Provisional Government of Hawaii It is also known as hinahina silvery borrowing the name of the native heliotrope used in lei until shoreline development made access difficult It has become a substitute for the native hinahina in lei used for pageantry In the early 21st century the plant was heavily marketed as Pele s hair lauoho o Pele which actually refers to a type of filamentous volcanic glass Human uses Edit Spanish moss under 20x magnification showing scale like trichomes Tillandsia Munro s Filiformis Tillandsia Odin s Genuina 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 22 More than 10 000 tons of processed Spanish moss was produced in 1939 23 Today it is collected in smaller quantities for use in arts and crafts as bedding for flower gardens and as an ingredient in bousillage a traditional wall covering material In some parts of Latin America and Louisiana it is used in nativity scenes In the desert regions of southwestern United States dried Spanish moss is sometimes used in the manufacture of evaporative coolers colloquially known as swamp coolers and in some areas as desert coolers which are used to cool homes and offices much less expensively than air conditioners The cooling technology uses a pump that 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 air temperature cooling the building 24 Varieties and cultivars EditTillandsia Maurice s Robusta 25 Tillandsia Munro s Filiformis a natural variety with very fine green leaves that is native to Paraguay and that is also known in the United States by the trade designations Tillandsia usneoides El Finito and Silver Ghost it conforms to the description of the now defunct variety Tillandsia usneoides var filiformis Andre Mez 26 Tillandsia Odin s Genuina a natural variety with brown rather than green or yellow flower petals that is native to Guatemala and Mexico 27 Tillandsia Spanish Gold 28 Tillandsia Tight and Curly 29 Hybrids Edit Tillandsia Nezley Tillandsia usneoides mallemontii 30 Tillandsia Kimberly Tillandsia usneoides recurvata 31 Tillandsia Old Man s Gold Tillandsia crocata usneoides 32 See also EditLace lichen an organism of similar habit and appearanceReferences Edit Trevino Zevallos I 2019 Tillandsia usneoides IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019 e T131368905A131369229 doi 10 2305 IUCN UK 2019 3 RLTS T131368905A131369229 en Retrieved 16 October 2022 Tillandsia usneoides Germplasm Resources Information Network GRIN Agricultural Research Service ARS United States Department of Agriculture USDA Retrieved 2009 12 08 a b Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families Tillandsia usneoides Luther Harry E Brown Gregory K 2000 Tillandsia usneoides In Flora of North America Editorial Committee ed Flora of North America North of Mexico FNA Vol 22 New York and Oxford via eFloras org Missouri Botanical Garden St Louis MO amp Harvard University Herbaria Cambridge MA Tillandsia usneoides County level distribution map from the North American Plant Atlas NAPA Biota of North America Program BONAP 2014 Damrosch B Neal B 2003 Gardener s Latin A Lexicon Chapel Hill N C Algonquin Books p 129 ISBN 978 1 56512 743 2 OCLC 856021571 Retrieved 20 April 2019 Tillandsia Germplasm Resources Information Network GRIN Agricultural Research Service ARS United States Department of Agriculture USDA Times Dispatch REX SPRINGSTON Richmond Virginia scientists search for northernmost realm of Spanish moss Richmond Times Dispatch Retrieved 2017 10 26 Ray John 1688 Historiae Plantarum Tomus Secondus cum Duplici Indice Generali Altero Nominum amp Synonymorum praecipuorum Altero Affectuum amp Remediorum Accessit Nomenclator Botanicus Anglo Latinus Translated by Raii Joannis London Plants profile for Tillandsia usneoides USDA Rare Threatened and Endangered Plants of Maryland PDF a b Brown M L and R G Brown 1984 Herbaceous plants of Maryland Baltimore Port City Press Inc a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint uses authors parameter link a b c Tillandsia usneoides Floridata Plant Encyclopedia Sustainability Spanish Moss Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences IFAS UF 2020 05 06 Retrieved 2021 10 28 Kluge M Lange O L Eichmann M V Schmid R 1973 CAM in Tillandsia usneoides Studies on the pathway of carbon and the dependency of CO2 exchange on light intensity temperature and water content of the plant in German Planta 112 4 357 72 doi 10 1007 BF00390308 PMID 24468815 Haslam Richard Borland Anne Maxwell Kate Griffiths Howard 2003 Physiological responses of the CAM epiphyte Tillandsia usneoides L Bromeliaceae to variations in light and water supply Journal of Plant Physiology 160 6 627 34 doi 10 1078 0176 1617 00970 PMID 12872484 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 doi 10 2307 2442489 JSTOR 2442489 Wildlife State of Texas Parks and Flora Fact Spanish Moss Serves as Nature s Draperies www tpwmagazine com Retrieved 2017 10 26 Whitaker Jr J Ruckdeschel C 2010 Spanish Moss the Unfinished Chigger Story Southeastern Naturalist 9 1 85 94 doi 10 1656 058 009 0107 S2CID 86228838 Friedman Amy Johnson Meredith May 28 2017 The Meanest Man Who Ever Lived An American Folktale Uexpress Retrieved May 31 2017 Na Lei o Hawai i Types of Lei Archived from the original on 2013 01 03 Hair From Trees Spanish moss is new upholstering material Popular Science June 1937 Adams Dennis Spanish Moss Its Nature History and Uses Beaufort County Library SC Archived from the original on 2017 02 01 Retrieved 2009 06 20 Gutenberg Arthur William 1955 The Economics of the Evaporative Cooler Industry in the Southwestern United States Stanford University Graduate School of Business p 167 Bromeliad Cultivar Registry Tillandsia Maurice s Robusta Bromeliad Cultivar Registry Tillandsia Munro s Filiformis Bromeliad Cultivar Registry Tillandsia Odin s Genuina Bromeliad Cultivar Registry Tillandsia Spanish Gold Bromeliad Cultivar Registry Tillandsia Tight and Curly Bromeliad Cultivar Registry Tillandsia Nezley Bromeliad Cultivar Registry Tillandsia Kimberly Bromeliad Cultivar Registry Tillandsia Old Man s Gold Mabberley D J 1987 The Plant Book A Portable Dictionary of the Higher Plants Cambridge University Press Cambridge ISBN 0 521 34060 8 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tillandsia usneoides category Spanish Moss Its History Nature and Uses Beaufort County Library Archived 2017 02 01 at the Wayback Machine Florida Forest Plants Florida Spanish Moss Theory Does Spanish Moss kill trees What s in a name Itla okla ʻUmiʻumi o Dole Spanish Moss Flowers Used for Lei Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Spanish moss amp oldid 1134629608, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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