Spanish moss

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Spanish moss
Spanish moss at the Mcbryde Garden in hawaii.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
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 usneoidesL.
  • Dendropogon usneoides(L.) Raf.
  • Strepsia usneoides(L.) Nutt. ex Steud.
  • Tillandsia trichoidesKunth
  • Tillandsia filiformisLodd. ex Schult. & Schult.f.
  • Tillandsia crinitaWilld. ex Beer

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 (as far south as northern Patagonia), [4] 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] It has the widest distribution of any bromeliad.

Contents

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. [5] [6] 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

Close-up of Spanish moss Spanishmoss1.jpg
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). [7] The gray-green garlands have occasionally been found hanging down as much as 26 feet (eight meters). [8]

The plant has no roots. [7] [9] Its flowers are yellow-green and small, with spreading petals. The scape is partly hidden within the leaf sheath. [5] Spanish moss 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.[ citation needed ]

Taxonomy

Spanish moss is in the family Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads). Formerly, it was placed in the genera Anoplophytum, Caraguata, and Renealmia. [10] The specific name of the plant, usneoides, means "resembling Usnea ", a lichen. [11]

Habitat and distribution

Spanish moss' primary range is in the Southeastern United States (including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands) to Argentina, where the climate is warm enough and a relatively high average humidity occurs.[ citation needed ] In North America, it occurs in a broad band following the Gulf of Mexico and the southern Atlantic coast. [6] The northern limit of its natural range is Northampton County, Virginia, [12] with colonial-era reports of it in southern Maryland, [13] [14] [15] where no populations are now known to exist. [15]

It has been introduced to locations around the world with similar conditions, including Hawaii, where it first established itself in the nineteenth century. [16]

Ecology

Spanish moss growing along the limb of a tree Spanish moss in Pender County, NC IMG 4472.JPG
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. [7] It can use the water-conserving strategy of crassulacean acid metabolism for photosynthesis. [17] [18]

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. [19] It can also colonize other tree species such as sweetgum ( Liquidambar styraciflua ), crepe-myrtles ( Lagerstroemia spp.), other oaks, and even pines.[ citation needed ] It also grows more uncommonly on artificial structures such as fencing and telephone lines. [5]

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. [20] 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. [21]

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. [7]

Culture and folklore

Spanish-moss with open seed capsule in Santee National Wildlife Refuge, South Carolina Sp moss flower 1545.JPG
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, Southern Arkansas, 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. [22]

Spanish moss was introduced to Hawaii in the nineteenth century. It became a popular ornamental and lei plant. [16] 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 Spanish moss under 20x magnification.jpg
Spanish moss under 20x magnification, showing scale-like trichomes
Tillandsia 'Munro's Filiformis' Tillandsia usneoides 'Munro's Filiformis' (2).jpg
Tillandsia 'Munro's Filiformis'
Tillandsia 'Odin's Genuina' Tillandsia 'Odin's Genuina'.jpg
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. [23] More than 10,000 tons of processed Spanish moss was produced in 1939. [24] 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. [25]

Varieties and cultivars

Hybrids

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Epiphyte</span> Surface organism that grows upon another plant but is not nourished by it

An epiphyte is a plant or plant-like organism that grows on the surface of another plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phorophytes. Epiphytes take part in nutrient cycles and add to both the diversity and biomass of the ecosystem in which they occur, like any other organism. In some cases, a rainforest tree's epiphytes may total "several tonnes". They are an important source of food for many species. Typically, the older parts of a plant will have more epiphytes growing on them. Epiphytes differ from parasites in that they grow on other plants for physical support and do not necessarily affect the host negatively. An organism that grows on another organism that is not a plant may be called an epibiont. Epiphytes are usually found in the temperate zone or in the tropics. Epiphyte species make good houseplants due to their minimal water and soil requirements. Epiphytes provide a rich and diverse habitat for other organisms including animals, fungi, bacteria, and myxomycetes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bromeliaceae</span> Family of monocot flowering plants

The Bromeliaceae are a family of monocot flowering plants of about 80 genera and 3700 known species, native mainly to the tropical Americas, with several species found in the American subtropics and one in tropical west Africa, Pitcairnia feliciana.

<i>Tillandsia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Tillandsia is a genus of around 650 species of evergreen, perennial flowering plants in the family Bromeliaceae, native to the forests, mountains and deserts of the Neotropics, from northern Mexico and the southeastern United States to Mesoamerica and the Caribbean to central Argentina. Their leaves, more or less silvery in color, are covered with specialized cells (trichomes) capable of rapidly absorbing water that gathers on them.

Old man's beard may refer to the following:

<i>Tillandsia recurvata</i> Species of epiphyte

Tillandsia recurvata, commonly known as small ballmoss or ball moss, is a flowering plant in the family Bromeliaceae that grows upon larger host plants. It grows well in areas with low light, little airflow, and high humidity, which is commonly provided by southern shade trees, often the southern live oak. It is not a parasite like mistletoe, but an epiphyte like its relative Spanish moss.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tillandsioideae</span> Subfamily of family Bromeliaceae

Tillandsioideae is a subfamily of plants in the bromeliad family Bromeliaceae. This subfamily contains the greatest number of species. Most are epiphytic or lithophytic, growing in trees or on rocks where they absorb water and nutrients from the air. Spanish moss of the genus Tillandsia is a well-known species. Bromeliads in the genera Guzmania and Vriesea are the more commonly cultivated members of this subfamily.

<i>Tillandsia caput-medusae</i> Species of flowering plant

Tillandsia caput-medusae is a species of flowering plant in the bromeliad family, Bromeliaceae, subfamily Tillandsioideae. Common names include octopus plant and medusa's head. An epiphyte native to Central America and Mexico, T. caput-medusae is a commonly cultivated bromeliad species. The thick, channeled, tapering and twisting leaves are up to 25 cm (9.8 in) long and are covered in fine gray hairs. The rosette of leaves arise from an inflated pseudobulb. Pups are produced after blooming, as is usual with most Tillandsia species.

<i>Tillandsia balbisiana</i> Species of epiphyte

Tillandsia balbisiana, common name northern needleleaf, is a species of bromeliad in the genus Tillandsia. This species in native to Mexico, Central America, Colombia, Venezuela, the West Indies, and Florida.

<i>Tillandsia bulbosa</i> Species of plant

Tillandsia bulbosa, the bulbous airplant, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Tillandsia. It is widespread across Central America, the West Indies, southern Mexico, and northern and eastern South America. According to Emsley, this tank bromeliad's leaves are joined at the top so that the plant can be turned upside down without losing water.

<i>Tillandsia brachycaulos</i> Species of flowering plant

Tillandsia brachycaulos is a species of flowering plant in the genus Tillandsia. It is native to Mexico, Central America, and Venezuela.

<i>Tillandsia imperialis</i> Species of plant

Tillandsia imperialis is an epiphytic species of flowering plant in the genus Tillandsia. This species is endemic to Mexico, specifically the states Hidalgo, Oaxaca, Puebla, Querétaro, and Veracruz, at elevations ranging from 800 to 2,600 meters. Its distribution is generally on the eastern portion of the eastern Sierra Madre Mountains and the eastern portion of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. This species is primarily epiphytic to the branches and holes of the tree species Pinus patula and Quercus laurina, or on lianas of the same trees, in moist cloud forests. This bromeliad prefers moist conditions and does not tolerate extended periods of drought or low humidity.

<i>Tillandsia pruinosa</i> Species of plant

Tillandsia pruinosa, is a species of flowering plant in the family Bromeliaceae. It is commonly known as the fuzzywuzzy airplant. This species is native to northern South America, Central America, southern Mexico, the West Indies and Florida.

<i>Tillandsia chlorophylla</i> Species of plant

Tillandsia chlorophylla is a species of flowering plant in the genus Tillandsia. This species is native to Belize, Guatemala, and southern Mexico.

<i>Tillandsia fasciculata</i> Species of flowering plant

Tillandsia fasciculata, commonly known as the giant airplant, giant wild pine, or cardinal airplant, is a species of bromeliad that is native to Central America, Mexico, the West Indies, northern South America, and the southeastern United States. Within the United States, this airplant is at risk of extirpation from the Mexican bromeliad weevil, Metamasius callizona. A related plant, Tillandsia utriculata, sometimes called the "wild pine", is endemic to the same areas.

Tillandsia festucoides, commonly known as the fescue airplant, is a species of bromeliad that is native to the Greater Antilles, Mexico, the Cayman Islands, and Central America.

<i>Tillandsia magnusiana</i> Species of plant

Tillandsia magnusiana is a species of flowering plant in the genus Tillandsia. This species is native to southern and western Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras.

<i>Tillandsia paucifolia</i> Species of plant

Tillandsia paucifolia, the potbelly airplant, is a species of bromeliad in the genus Tillandsia. This species is native to Central America, central and southern Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, the West Indies, and Florida.

<i>Tillandsia schiedeana</i> Species of plant

Tillandsia schiedeana is a species of flowering plant in the genus Tillandsia. It was named for the collector Christian Julius Wilhelm Schiede. As an epiphyte, it is found "growing in open tropical forests, and saxicolous, growing on cacti and burseras on steep dry slopes in semiarid regions in Mexico, Central America, West Indies, Venezuela, and Colombia at elevations of 750 to 5,500 feet."

<i>Tillandsia baileyi</i> Species of flowering plant

Tillandsia baileyi, commonly known as the reflexed airplant or Bailey's ball moss, is a species of bromeliad that is native to southern Texas in the United States and Tamaulipas in Mexico. It is found along the Gulf of Mexico from Kingsville, Texas to Tampico, Tamaulipas. Preferred host plants for this epiphyte include Southern live oak and Texas ebony.

<i>Tillandsia ultima</i> Species of plant

Tillandsia ultima is a species of flowering plant in the genus Tillandsia that is native to Colombia and Ecuador. It was first discovered in Colombia in 1946 in the region of Magdalena.

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 . Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture . Retrieved 2009-12-08.
  3. 1 2 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, Tillandsia usneoides
  4. ↑ Zuchowski, Willow (2007). Tropical Plants of Costa Rica. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell Univ. Press. p. 376. ISBN   978-0801445880.
  5. 1 2 3 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: Oxford University Press – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  6. 1 2 "Tillandsia usneoides". County-level distribution map from the North American Plant Atlas (NAPA). Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Tillandsia usneoides". Floridata Plant Encyclopedia.
  8. ↑ Rohwer Ph.D., Prof. Jens G. (2002). Tropical Plants of the World. New York: Sterling Pub. Co. Inc. p. 258. ISBN   0-8069-8387-6.
  9. ↑ "Sustainability-Spanish Moss". Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS), UF. 2020-05-06. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
  10. ↑ "Tillandsia". Germplasm Resources Information Network . Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture.
  11. ↑ 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.
  12. ↑ Times-Dispatch, REX SPRINGSTON Richmond. "Virginia scientists search for northernmost realm of Spanish moss". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved 2017-10-26.
  13. ↑ "Plants profile for Tillandsia usneoides". USDA.
  14. ↑ "Rare, Threatened, and Endangered Plants of Maryland" (PDF).
  15. 1 2 Brown, M.L.; R.G. Brown (1984). Herbaceous plants of Maryland. Baltimore: Port City Press, Inc.
  16. 1 2 "Nā Lei o Hawai'i – Types of Lei". Archived from the original on 2013-01-03.
  17. ↑ 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.
  18. ↑ 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.
  19. ↑ 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.
  20. ↑ Wildlife, State of Texas, Parks and. "Flora Fact:| Spanish Moss Serves as Nature's Draperies". www.tpwmagazine.com. Retrieved 2017-10-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  21. ↑ 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.
  22. ↑ Friedman, Amy; Johnson, Meredith (May 28, 2017). "The Meanest Man Who Ever Lived (An American Folktale)". Uexpress . Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  23. ↑ "Hair From Trees....Spanish-moss is new upholstering material". Popular Science. June 1937.
  24. ↑ "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.
  25. ↑ Gutenberg, Arthur William (1955). The Economics of the Evaporative Cooler Industry in the Southwestern United States. Stanford University Graduate School of Business. p. 167.
  26. ↑ Bromeliad Cultivar Registry: Tillandsia 'Maurice's Robusta'
  27. ↑ Bromeliad Cultivar Registry: Tillandsia 'Munro's Filiformis'
  28. ↑ Bromeliad Cultivar Registry: Tillandsia 'Odin's Genuina'
  29. ↑ Bromeliad Cultivar Registry: Tillandsia 'Spanish Gold'
  30. ↑ Bromeliad Cultivar Registry: Tillandsia 'Tight and Curly'
  31. ↑ Bromeliad Cultivar Registry: Tillandsia 'Nezley'
  32. ↑ Bromeliad Cultivar Registry: Tillandsia 'Kimberly'
  33. ↑ Bromeliad Cultivar Registry: Tillandsia 'Old Man's Gold'
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