Spanish moss - Wikipedia

The plant has no roots.[6][7] Its flowers are yellow-green and small, with spreading petals. The scape is partly hidden within the leaf sheath.[4] 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]
Spanish moss is in the family Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads). Formerly, it was placed in the genera Anoplophytum, Caraguata, and Renealmia.[8] The specific name of the plant, usneoides, means "resembling Usnea", a lichen.[9]
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.[6] It can use the water-conserving strategy of crassulacean acid metabolism for photosynthesis.[16][17]
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.[19] 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.[20]
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.[6]
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.[21]
Spanish moss was introduced to Hawaii in the nineteenth century. It became a popular ornamental and lei plant.[15] 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.
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.[22] More than 10,000 tons of processed Spanish moss was produced in 1939.[23] 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.[24]
Tillandsia 'Munro's Filiformis' – a natural variety with very fine, green leaves that is native to Paraguay and that is also known in the United States by the trade designationsTillandsia usneoidesEl Finito and Silver Ghost, it conforms to the description of the now-defunct variety Tillandsia usneoides var. filiformis (André) Mez[26]
Tillandsia 'Odin's Genuina' : a natural variety with brown rather than green or yellow flower petals that is native to Guatemala and Mexico[27]