Editing Spanish moss (section)

== Culture and folklore ==
[[File:Sp moss flower 1545.JPG|thumb|Spanish-moss with open [[Capsule (fruit)|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]], Southern Arkansas, [[Florida]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], [[Louisiana]], [[Mississippi]], [[North Carolina]], [[South Carolina]], [[East Texas|east]] and [[South Texas|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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.uexpress.com/tell-me-a-story/2017/5/28/the-meanest-man-who-ever-lived |title=The Meanest Man Who Ever Lived (An American Folktale) |last1=Friedman |first1=Amy |last2=Johnson |first2=Meredith |publisher=[[Uexpress]] | date=May 28, 2017 |access-date=May 31, 2017}}</ref>

Spanish moss was [[Introduced species|introduced]] to Hawaii in the nineteenth century. It became a popular [[Ornamental plant|ornamental]] and [[Lei (Hawaii)|lei]] plant.<ref name="Lei">{{cite web |url=http://www.kaahelehawaii.com/pages/culture_lei_types_wili.htm |title=Nā Lei o Hawai'i – Types of Lei |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130103162854/http://www.kaahelehawaii.com/pages/culture_lei_types_wili.htm |archive-date=2013-01-03 }}</ref> 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]].