Talk:Spanish moss

Charleston, South Carolina, has told the story of a Cuban who came to the area with his Spanish fiancée in the 1700s to start a plantation near the city. Among other features mentioned for the bride-to-be was her beautiful, flowing raven hair. As the couple was walking through the forest to reach the location of their future plantation, they were attacked and killed by an army of the Cherokee tribe, who were not happy to have these strangers on their land. As a final warning to stay away from the Cherokee nation, they cut off the long, dark hair of the bride-to-be and threw it up into an oak tree. As they came back day after day, week after week, they noticed that the hair had shriveled and turned grey and had also spread throughout the tree. Wherever the Cherokees went, the moss followed them and would eventually chase them out of their homeland of South Carolina. To this day, if one will stand under a live oak tree, one will hear the moaning of the woman and will see the moss jump from tree to tree.

Harvest relevance

 * At one time, some 5,000 tons of Spanish moss were harvested and used in the U.S. alone.

it contanes 2.5 of lise This sounds like nearly nothing. Can someone come up with a comparison with tonnage from the harvest of some other decorative plant? Tempshill 01:10, 8 January 2006 (UTC)

Northern extensions
Why does spanish moss extend all the way north to Southern parts of the Atlanta area where elevation is low but does not come farther into Rome, GA where it is almost 500 ft lower.

removed "folklore" section
I took this out as it is not really about spanish moss:


 * ==Folklore==


 * Charleston, South Carolina, has told the story of a Cuban who came to the area with his Spanish fiancée in the 1700s to start a plantation near the city. Among other features mentioned for the bride-to-be was her beautiful, flowing raven hair. As the couple was walking through the forest to reach the location of their future plantation, they were attacked and killed by an army of the Cherokee tribe, who were not happy to have these strangers on their land. As a final warning to stay away from the Cherokee nation, they cut off the long, dark hair of the bride-to-be and threw it up into an oak tree. As they came back day after day, week after week, they noticed that the hair had shriveled and turned grey and had also spread throughout the tree. Wherever the Cherokees went, the moss followed them and would eventually chase them out of their homeland of South Carolina. To this day, if one will stand under a live oak tree, one will hear the moaning of the woman and will see the moss jump from tree to tree.

How is this not about Spanish moss? It seems like a wonderful bit of folklore about the plant. Or is this in fact referring to some other plant? A reference for this story would be nice. Some other interesting creation stories for Spanish moss can be found at . I'll wait a bit, and if there are no objections I will put this story back in the main entry. (Millifolium)

Growth Rate
Does anyone have information regarding the growth rate or life cycles of spanish moss?

KMGator 12:26, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

Human Uses
Should the name Indian be changed to Native American

Soapthgr8 14:46, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

No. 68.210.28.152 (talk) 14:07, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

Polution Susceptibility
Susceptible to air pollution? This statement seems pretty thin currently. EPA keeps saying Houston has very poor air and the stuff thrives here. Perhaps someone could add a link to a study or explain what they mean? On the surface, almost all living plants and animals are "susceptible" to "pollution". If they breath air, then they would be "susceptible" to "air pollution." Some other phrasing might satisfy, but the current one is so general as to be valueless.--Mokru 18:52, 28 October 2007 (UTC)
 * I agree. I added a fact tag in the hopes someone is willing to look this up and provide some useful information on it.  Otherwise I will, or anyone can if they want, remove the statement at a later time.  Gh5046 19:30, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

Origin of the name
It would be nice if this article included some info on the origin of the name. -Freekee (talk) 17:35, 16 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Go for it. Gh5046 (talk) 20:47, 16 November 2008 (UTC)

Doesn't grow in hollies?
I have a holly tree in my front yard absolutely filled with this species, so I removed the part about Spanish Moss not growing in hollies. It might need to say that it doesn't grow in some species of holly or need some other correction, but I'm not aware of any correction that could be applied other than simply removing it. --Suttkus (talk) 17:38, 24 May 2009 (UTC)

Ecology Edit
Referring to
 * ==Ecology==
 * Spanish moss is an epiphyte (a plant that lives upon other plants; from Greek "epi"=upon "phyte"=plant), which absorbs nutrients (especially calcium) and water from the air and rainfall. Spanish moss is colloquially known as "air plant".

I am removing the description of an epiphyte. If the user wants to know what that is, they will click the link.

Kristopherbd (talk) 15:57, 15 September 2010 (UTC)

Important Human Use
Spanish moss appears to be the tempering agent for the earliest pottery in Southeaster U.S.,dating from 4.500 B.P. in St. Johns River and Savannah River. It is mentioned in the article: Byblios (talk) 23:40, 5 November 2011 (UTC)Byblios
 * Simpkins, D. L. & Allard, D. J. 1986 Isolation and Identification of Spanish moss fiber from a sample of Stallings and Orange series ceramics, American Antiquity 51, No. 1, 102-117

Charleston, South Carolina, has told the story of a Cuban who came to the area with his Spanish fiancée in the 1700s to start a plantation near the city. Among other features mentioned for the bride-to-be was her beautiful, flowing raven hair. As the couple was walking through the forest to reach the location of their future plantation, they were attacked and killed by an army of the Cherokee tribe, who were not happy to have these strangers on their land. As a final warning to stay away from the Cherokee nation, they cut off the long, dark hair of the bride-to-be and threw it up into an oak tree. As they came back day after day, week after week, they noticed that the hair had shriveled and turned grey and had also spread throughout the tree. Wherever the Cherokees went, the moss followed them and would eventually chase them out of their homeland of South Carolina. To this day, if one will stand under a live oak tree, one will hear the moaning of the woman and will see the moss jump from tree to tree. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.69.115.55 (talk) 16:59, 26 April 2013 (UTC)

It might be helpful if information could be added regarding control and eradication of this plant. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 97.102.25.241 (talk) 21:55, 27 September 2014 (UTC)

Maryland and Delaware
Tillandsia usneoides is not known to occur in either Delaware or Maryland. The claim of occurrence in Delaware is unsubstantiated by any of the cited references so I have removed it entirely. The claim for Maryland is based on an erroneous distribution map (showing its occurrence throughout Maryland!) and possibly based on historical records (there are colonial era records suggesting its occurrence in Maryland but they have never been substantiated) but more likely based on persistent rumor and hearsay. I have edited the sentence to qualify that claim. The northernmost documented extant population of this species is currently found in southern Cape Charles, Virginia: http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/state-regional/virginia-scientists-search-for-northernmost-realm-of-spanish-moss/article_4e584659-2f01-5b80-b6d2-dff5092305e1.html 160.111.254.17 (talk) 15:18, 2 December 2014 (UTC)

Doesn't need a plant to grow on
I live in Florida, and you can see flags of this stuff hanging on power lines as well as on trees. Not in the sense that it was blown off, and it's not heavy enough to be thrown like tied together shoes. Doesn't seem to need to grow on an actual plant. --StarChaser Tyger (talk) 01:02, 15 March 2017 (UTC)

Red bugs / chiggers
It's notoriously a home for | chiggers aka red bugs at least in Florida, and kids who want to mess with it or use it for something are advised to microwave it for quite a while to try and kill them. Often unsuccessfully. --StarChaser Tyger (talk) 01:02, 15 March 2017 (UTC)

Environmental Requirements?
What are Spanish Moss' temperature and especially its humidity requirements? This question becomes more significant as tropical conditions are moving north. And, for a thriving clump, what drop in temperature and/or humidity (for instance, for about 24 hours) would be necessary to significantly damage the colony? Thanks. Nei1 (talk) 14:21, 27 August 2021 (UTC)