Editing Spanish moss (section)

== Human uses ==
[[File:Spanish moss under 20x magnification.jpg|thumb|Spanish moss under 20x magnification, showing scale-like [[trichome]]s]]
[[File:Tillandsia usneoides 'Munro's Filiformis' (2).jpg|thumb|150px|''Tillandsia'' 'Munro's Filiformis']]
[[File:Tillandsia_%27Odin%27s_Genuina%27.jpg|thumb|150px|''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.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eiYDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA32 |title=Hair From Trees....Spanish-moss is new upholstering material |magazine=Popular Science |date=June 1937}}</ref> More than 10,000 tons of processed Spanish moss was produced in 1939.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.beaufortcountylibrary.org/htdocs-sirsi/spanish.htm |title=Adams, Dennis. Spanish Moss: Its Nature, History and Uses. Beaufort County Library, SC. |access-date=2009-06-20 |archive-date=2017-02-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170201042620/http://www.beaufortcountylibrary.org/htdocs-sirsi/spanish.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> 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 [[Christmas in Mexico#Nativity scenes|nativity scenes]].

In the desert regions of southwestern United States, dried Spanish moss is sometimes used in the manufacture of [[evaporative cooler]]s, 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.<ref>Gutenberg, Arthur William (1955). The Economics of the Evaporative Cooler Industry in the Southwestern United States. Stanford University Graduate School of Business. p. 167.</ref>