Editing Spanish moss

{{Short description|Species of plant, ''Tillandsia usneoides''}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Spanish moss
| image = Spanish moss at the Mcbryde Garden in hawaii.jpg
| image_caption = 
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref>{{cite iucn |author=Treviño Zevallos, I. |date=2019 |title=''Tillandsia usneoides'' |page=e.T131368905A131369229 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T131368905A131369229.en |access-date=16 October 2022}}</ref>
| genus = Tillandsia
| parent = Tillandsia subg. Diaphoranthema
| species = usneoides
| authority = ([[Carl Linnaeus|L.]]) L., 1762<ref name="GRIN">{{GRIN |310398 |Tillandsia usneoides |access-date=2009-12-08}}</ref>
| synonyms = 
* ''Renealmia usneoides'' <small>L.</small>
* ''Dendropogon usneoides'' <small>(L.) Raf.</small>
* ''Strepsia usneoides'' <small>(L.) Nutt. ex Steud.</small>
* ''Tillandsia trichoides'' <small>Kunth</small>
* ''Tillandsia filiformis'' <small>Lodd. ex Schult. & Schult.f.</small>
* ''Tillandsia crinita'' <small>Willd. ex Beer</small>
| synonyms_ref =<ref name="j" />
}}

'''Spanish moss''' ('''''Tillandsia usneoides''''') is an [[Epiphyte|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]] (as far south as northern [[Patagonia]]),<ref>{{cite book |last=Zuchowski |first=Willow |title=Tropical Plants of Costa Rica |date=2007 |publisher=Cornell Univ. Press |isbn=978-0801445880 |location=Ithaca, N.Y. |page=376}}</ref> the [[Southern United States]], and [[West Indies]]. It has been naturalized in [[Queensland]] ([[Australia]]). It is known as "grandpa's beard" in [[French Polynesia]].<ref name="j">[http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=269929 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, ''Tillandsia usneoides'']</ref> It has the widest distribution of any [[Bromeliaceae|bromeliad]].

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]].<ref name="eFloras">{{eFloras |1|222000404 |Tillandsia usneoides |first1=Harry E. |last1=Luther |first2=Gregory K. |last2=Brown |family=Bromeliaceae}}</ref><ref name="BONAP">{{BONAP |ref |genus=Tillandsia |species=usneoides }}</ref> While it superficially resembles its namesake, the [[lichen]] ''[[Usnea]]'', it is neither a lichen nor a [[moss]] (instead being a member of the bromeliad family, Bromeliaceae), and it is not native to [[Spain]].

== Description ==
[[File:Spanishmoss1.jpg|thumb|right|Close-up of Spanish moss]]
Spanish moss consists of one or more slender stems, bearing alternate thin, curved or curly, and heavily scaled [[leaf|leaves]] {{convert|0.8|–|2.4|in|cm|0|abbr=in|order=flip}} long and {{convert|0.04|in|mm|sigfig=1|abbr=in|order=flip}} broad, that grow vegetatively in a chain-like fashion (pendant), forming hanging structures of up to {{convert|20|ft|m|0|abbr=in|order=flip}}.<ref name="floridata.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.floridata.com/ref/T/till_usn.cfm |title=Tillandsia usneoides |website=Floridata Plant Encyclopedia}}</ref> The gray-green garlands have occasionally been found hanging down as much as 26 feet (eight meters).<ref>{{ cite book | last= Rohwer Ph.D. | first= Prof. Jens G. | date= 2002 | title= Tropical Plants of the World | location= New York | publisher= Sterling Pub. Co. Inc. | page= 258 | isbn= 0-8069-8387-6}}</ref>

The plant has no [[root]]s.<ref name="floridata.com"/><ref name="UF-IFAS">{{cite web | title=Sustainability-Spanish Moss | website=[[Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences]] (IFAS), UF | date=2020-05-06 | url=http://sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/natural-resources/sustainability-spanish-moss/ | access-date=2021-10-28}}</ref> Its flowers are yellow-green and small, with spreading petals. The [[Scape (botany)|scape]] is partly hidden within the leaf sheath.<ref name="eFloras"/> Spanish moss propagates both by seed and [[Vegetative reproduction|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.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}

== Taxonomy ==

Spanish moss is in the family [[Bromeliaceae]] (the bromeliads). Formerly, it was placed in the genera ''Anoplophytum'', ''Caraguata'', and ''Renealmia''.<ref>{{GRIN |12153 |Tillandsia }}</ref> The [[specific name (botany)|specific name]] of the plant, ''usneoides'', means "resembling ''[[Usnea]]''", a lichen.<ref name="Damrosch Neal 2003">{{cite book |last1=Damrosch |first1=B. |last2=Neal |first2=B. |title=Gardener's Latin: A Lexicon |publisher=[[Algonquin Books]] | location=Chapel Hill, N.C |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-56512-743-2 |oclc=856021571 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-fhjAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA129 |access-date=20 April 2019 |page=129}}</ref>

== Habitat and distribution ==

Spanish moss' primary range is in the Southeastern United States (including [[Puerto Rico]] and the [[United States Virgin Islands|U.S. Virgin Islands]]) to [[Argentina]], where the climate is warm enough and a relatively high average [[humidity]] occurs.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}} In North America, it occurs in a broad band following the [[Gulf of Mexico]] and the southern Atlantic coast.<ref name="BONAP"/> The northern limit of its natural range is [[Northampton County, Virginia|Northampton County]], [[Virginia]],<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/state-regional/virginia-scientists-search-for-northernmost-realm-of-spanish-moss/article_4e584659-2f01-5b80-b6d2-dff5092305e1.html |title=Virginia scientists search for northernmost realm of Spanish moss |last=Times-Dispatch |first=REX SPRINGSTON Richmond |work=Richmond Times-Dispatch |access-date=2017-10-26 }}</ref> with colonial-era reports of it in southern [[Maryland]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=tius |title=Plants profile for Tillandsia usneoides |publisher=USDA}}</ref><ref name="mdrare">{{cite web |url=http://dnr.maryland.gov/wildlife/Documents/rte_Plant_List_expanded.pdf |title=Rare, Threatened, and Endangered Plants of Maryland}}</ref><ref name="Brown">{{cite book |author1=Brown, M.L. |author2=R.G. Brown |year=1984 |title=Herbaceous plants of Maryland |publisher=Port City Press, Inc. |location=Baltimore}}</ref> where no populations are now known to exist.<ref name="Brown"/>

It has been introduced to locations around the world with similar conditions, including [[Hawaii]], where it first established itself in the nineteenth century.<ref name="Lei"/>

== Ecology ==
[[File:Spanish moss in Pender County, NC IMG 4472.JPG|thumb|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.<ref name="floridata.com" /> Different species of plant seem to vary in their tolerance to Spanish Moss, and it has become a problematic weed in some places it has been introduced, such as Northern Sydney, Australia, where it is a threat to the Sydney Turpentine Ironbark Forest, Blue Gum High Forest and rainforests of the area.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.step.org.au/images/STEPimages/PDFdownloads/SpanishMoss.pdf |title=Spanish Moss (Tillandsia usneoides): An Environmental Weed. A Preliminary Assessment in Northern Sydney.|last=Buchanan|first=Robin|access-date=2025-03-26}}</ref>

Spanish Moss can use the water-conserving strategy of [[crassulacean acid metabolism]] for photosynthesis.<ref name="Kluge-et-al-1973">{{cite journal |last1=Kluge |first1=M |last2=Lange |first2=O L |last3=Eichmann |first3=M V |last4=Schmid |first4=R |title=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) |journal=Planta |date=1973 |volume=112 |issue=4 |pages=357–72 |doi=10.1007/BF00390308 |pmid=24468815 }}</ref><ref name="Haslam-et-al-2003">{{cite journal |last1=Haslam |first1=Richard |last2=Borland |first2=Anne |last3=Maxwell |first3=Kate |last4=Griffiths |first4=Howard |title=Physiological responses of the CAM epiphyte Tillandsia usneoides L. (Bromeliaceae) to variations in light and water supply |journal=Journal of Plant Physiology |date=2003 |volume=160 |issue=6 |pages=627–34 |doi=10.1078/0176-1617-00970 |pmid=12872484}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=William H. |last1=Schlesinger |first2=P. L. |last2=Marks |jstor=2442489 |title=Mineral Cycling and the Niche of Spanish Moss, Tillandsia usneoides L. |journal=American Journal of Botany |volume=64 |issue=10 |date=1977 |pages=1254–1262 |doi=10.2307/2442489}}</ref> It can also colonize other tree species such as sweetgum (''[[Liquidambar styraciflua]]''), crepe-myrtles (''[[Lagerstroemia]]'' spp.), other oaks, and even [[pine]]s.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}} It also grows more uncommonly on artificial structures such as fencing and telephone lines.<ref name="eFloras"/>

Spanish moss shelters a number of creatures, including [[rat snake]]s and three species of [[bat]]s. One species of [[Salticidae|jumping spider]], ''[[Pelegrina tillandsiae]]'', has been found only on Spanish moss.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.tpwmagazine.com/archive/2011/feb/scout1/ |title=Flora Fact:{{!}} Spanish Moss Serves as Nature's Draperies|last=Wildlife|first=State of Texas, Parks and|website=www.tpwmagazine.com|access-date=2017-10-26}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Whitaker Jr. |first1=J |last2=Ruckdeschel |first2=C. |title=Spanish Moss, the Unfinished Chigger Story |journal=Southeastern Naturalist |date=2010 |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=85–94 |doi=10.1656/058.009.0107|s2cid=86228838 }}</ref>

Spanish moss is sensitive to airborne contaminants. It does not grow in areas where smoke is common, such as near chimneys. It has receded from urban areas due to increasing air pollution.<ref name="floridata.com"/>

== 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]].

== 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>

== Varieties and cultivars ==
* ''Tillandsia'' 'Maurice's Robusta'<ref>[http://registry.bsi.org/index.php?fields=&id=12064 Bromeliad Cultivar Registry: Tillandsia 'Maurice's Robusta']</ref>
* ''Tillandsia'' 'Munro's Filiformis' – a natural [[Variety (botany)|variety]] with very fine, green leaves that is native to [[Paraguay]] and that is also known in the United States by the [[trade designation]]s ''Tillandsia usneoides'' {{mono|El Finito}} and {{mono|Silver Ghost}}, it conforms to the description of the now-defunct variety ''Tillandsia usneoides'' var. ''filiformis'' ([[Édouard André|André]]) [[Carl Christian Mez|Mez]]<ref>[http://registry.bsi.org/index.php?fields=&id=13587 Bromeliad Cultivar Registry: Tillandsia 'Munro's Filiformis']</ref>
* ''Tillandsia'' 'Odin's Genuina' : a natural variety with brown rather than green or yellow flower [[petal]]s that is native to [[Guatemala]] and [[Mexico]]<ref>[http://registry.bsi.org/index.php?fields=&id=13603 Bromeliad Cultivar Registry: Tillandsia 'Odin's Genuina']</ref>
* ''Tillandsia'' 'Spanish Gold'<ref>[http://registry.bsi.org/index.php?fields=&id=8286 Bromeliad Cultivar Registry: Tillandsia 'Spanish Gold']</ref>
* ''Tillandsia'' 'Tight and Curly'<ref>[http://registry.bsi.org/index.php?fields=&id=8302 Bromeliad Cultivar Registry: Tillandsia 'Tight and Curly']</ref>

=== Hybrids ===
* ''Tillandsia'' 'Nezley' (''Tillandsia usneoides'' × ''[[Tillandsia mallemontii|mallemontii]]'')<ref>[http://registry.bsi.org/index.php?fields=&id=8205 Bromeliad Cultivar Registry: Tillandsia 'Nezley']</ref>
* ''Tillandsia'' 'Kimberly' (''Tillandsia usneoides'' × ''[[Tillandsia recurvata|recurvata]]'')<ref>[http://registry.bsi.org/index.php?fields=&id=8148 Bromeliad Cultivar Registry: Tillandsia 'Kimberly']</ref>
* ''Tillandsia'' 'Old Man's Gold' (''[[Tillandsia crocata]]'' × ''usneoides'')<ref>[http://registry.bsi.org/index.php?fields=&id=13012 Bromeliad Cultivar Registry: Tillandsia 'Old Man's Gold']</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Lace lichen]], an organism of similar habit and appearance

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
* 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 ==
{{Commons and category|Tillandsia usneoides}}
* [http://www.beaufortcountylibrary.org/htdocs-sirsi/spanish.htm Spanish Moss: Its History, Nature and Uses]—Beaufort County Library ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170201042620/http://www.beaufortcountylibrary.org/htdocs-sirsi/spanish.htm |date=2017-02-01 }})
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070305210827/http://www.sfrc.ufl.edu/4h/Spanish_moss/spanmoss.htm Florida Forest Plants]
* [http://floridaspanishmoss.com/fsmtheory.html Florida Spanish Moss: Theory—Does Spanish Moss kill trees?]
* [https://www.step.org.au/index.php/an-environmental-weed Spanish moss: An environmental weed]
* [https://www.leiday.org/whats-in-a-name-itla-okla-%ca%bb-umi%ca%bb-umi-o-dole-spanish-moss/ What's in a name? Itla-okla, ʻUmiʻumi-o-Dole, Spanish Moss]
* [http://www.leiday.org/flowers-used-for-lei/ Flowers Used for Lei]

{{Taxonbar|from=Q311524}}

[[Category:Epiphytes]]
[[Category:Flora of Bermuda]]
[[Category:Flora of Central America]]
[[Category:Flora of Mexico]]
[[Category:Flora of Southern America]]
[[Category:Flora of the Southeastern United States]]
[[Category:Flora of the Bahamas]]
[[Category:Flora of the Caribbean]]
[[Category:Flora of the South-Central United States]]
[[Category:Flora without expected TNC conservation status]]
[[Category:Plants described in 1762]]
[[Category:Tillandsia]]