Spanish Moss

"My thoughts are weighed down by you
lightly
like lace curtains, or Spanish moss on live oaks
Beautiful in their mourning veils
filtering the sunlight"
- Nicola Turner


I have always has a sort of infatuation with Spanish Moss. It has a sort of magical, take you back in time, element to it. I always think of the Old South, you know, with plantations and Victorian era homes with wrap around porches, that kind of thing. When I would ride my horse on the trails behind the barn, I would often grab it off of the oak trees as I passed by. Sometimes, I would find little red bugs crawling all over the moss, and I would quickly fling it on the ground. Other times I would drape it over my painted gelding, pretending he had a mane made of the stuff.

Now I know that Spanish Moss isn't actually a moss, but an angiosperm (strange name) and it is a type of air plant because it doesn't have roots in the ground. It absorbs nutrients from the air and the rain. Because it lives on the limbs of various trees, it stunts the trees growth because it doesn't allow a lot of light get to that trees own leaves. It is also known weigh trees down and make them more likely to fall during high winds or hurricanes. So while Spanish Moss is beautiful, it is a silent killer. Interesting.