You can see these draped, beard-like plants living just as well on fences, telephone wires and constructed surfaces. In fact, evidence suggests they prefer dead trees to live ones.

Contrary to popular myth, Spanish Moss is a member of the bromeliad family – an epiphyte or air plant - that has developed a unique way to make its food. These plants have evolved the capacity to process their food from minerals dissolved in water that runs off across leaves and branches of the trees to which they are anchored.

Spanish Moss is particularly suited to our region’s abundance of lateral or radially-shaped trees (structured along horizontal branches), which provide abundant access sunlight and moist habitats. The plant reproduces by seeds and vegetative growth, well-suited to seed dispersal in the intense storms common to Florida.

Spanish Moss is a flowering plant and in spring produces a single yellow-green and pleasantly fragrant flower on the terminal end of a moss strand. It also provides protection for a number of insects and other invertebrates and is a favored roosting place for several species of bats. A number of bird species use Spanish Moss strands as a major nesting component. The parula warbler and Baltimore oriole actually weave strands into egg sacs and hammocks from their newly-hatched young.

Don’t destroy Spanish Moss because of a fanciful legend. Rather, use it as an indicator of the health of your trees. Green plants are indicative of a robust environment. By contrast, colonies of gray plants on a single tree suggest moisture or other environmental stress.