Let go darling, I can feel the night wind call.
Guess I’d better go, I like you more than half as much as I love your Spanish moss.
Spanish moss hanging down, lofty as the southern love we’ve found.
Spanish moss keeps on following my thoughts around.
Georgia pine and Ripple wine, memories of Savannah summertime.

Spanish moss, wish you knew what I was saying.
So I’m rolling north thinking of the way things might have been
if she and I could have changed it all somehow.
Spanish moss hanging down, lofty as the sycamore you’ve found,
Spanish moss keeps on following my thoughts around.
Georgia pine and Ripple wine, kisses mixed with moonshine and red clay

Spanish moss, wish you knew what I was saying.
So I’m rolling north thinking of the way things might have been
if she and I could have changed it all somehow.
Let go darling, I can feel the night wind call, the devil take the cost.
I like the way your kisses flow and I love your Spanish moss.

Spanish Moss (Tillandsia usneoides) is one of those iconic sightings that lets me know that I am in the south and on vacation. It is somewhat haunting, mysterious, and settling at the same time. It exudes a sense of laziness and being carefree, and when I see it I immediately start singing the above Gordon Lightfoot song to myself. My family prefers it that way.

Neither Spanish nor a moss, Spanish Moss is native to the tropical Caribbean and sub-tropical Southern United States and South America. The plant has an inconspicuous flower and no roots. Spanish Moss is an epiphyte, not a parasite; growing on a host tree but taking neither water nor nutrients from the host, but rather acquiring them from the air. It is a member of the Bromelaid family, which also includes the Pineapple.

Consisting of slender stems, Spanish Moss bears curved scaled leaves in an alternate pattern, displays a hanging habit, and can obtain a length of 20 feet.

In the southern U.S., it is most often found on Live Oak and Bald Cypress, which have the somewhat unique property of releasing essential minerals like calcium, magnesium, potassium, and phosphorus; providing these important nutrients to the epiphytic plant. It also can be found in other tree species such as Sweetgum, Crape Myrtle, other oaks, and some pines. So instead of Spanish Moss stealing these nutrients, as a parasite would, Live Oak and Bald Cypress offer them up, allowing Spanish Moss to thrive in their canopies. Makes one ponder what the evolutionary benefit is to the host trees?

Spread to other trees occurs by several methods. The seeds are structured so they are easily caught by the wind and land on the bark of new trees where they will germinate. Also, segments of Spanish Moss can be carried off by the wind or birds to a new location, where the displaced plant will grow.

Historically it has been used for many things including house insulation, mattress and car seat stuffing, and garden mulch.

But for me, being from the unSouth, it primarily functions as a beacon of slowing down, taking a deep breath, and enjoying the coastal breezes.

Contrary to Gordon Lightfoot’s lyrics, I have never seen it in a Sycamore.

Here is a link to Gordon Lightfoot singing “Spanish Moss”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDtdGfh1gDg

Photos are by Peggy Juengling Burns and were taken at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park, Santa Rosa Beach, Florida.