Wednesday Filler: Mossy Pines

As one heads further into the Deep South, one finds a rather amazing lushness develop inch by inch.  One such feature of increasing heat and humidity would be the presence of a plant that loves both, namely Spanish Moss (Tillandsia Usenoides).  It is an epiphyte (air-plant) which hangs off of trees and lives off of nutrients that would otherwise wash off the branches.  Contrary to what one imagines, it does not in any way damage the tree it grows on.

Both shots taken in Beaufort, South Carolina.

Normally the moss favors the broad, open branches of the Live Oak (Quercus Virginiana) or Baldcypress (Taxodium Distichum), but as seen above it will occasionally grow on a pine like that Slash Pine (Pinus Elliottii).  A host is host, even with thick clusters of needles.  Botanists theorize that Spanish Moss is carried from place to place and thus reproduced by birds using it as nesting material.  Fewer birds colonize the pines than the other trees, but perhaps the wind also works where the birds (or the less picky birds) fail to nest.