spanish moss, Florida, USA on a tree
spanish moss on a tree - Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) closely resembles its namesake (Usnea, or beard lichen). However, Spanish moss is not biologically related to either mosses or lichens. Instead, it is a flowering plant in the family Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) that grows hanging from tree branches in full sun or partial shade. Formerly this plant has been placed in the genera Anoplophytum, Caraguata, and Renealmia.[1] It ranges from the southeastern United States (southern Virginia and eastern Maryland) to Argentina, growing wherever the climate is warm enough and has a relatively high average humidity. The plant consists of a slender stem bearing alternate thin, curved or curly, heavily scaled leaves 2–6 cm long and 1 mm broad, that grow vegetatively in chain-like fashion (pendant) to form hanging structures 1–2 m in length, occasionally more. The plant has aerial roots and its flowers are tiny and inconspicuous. It propagates both by seed and vegetatively by fragments that blow on the wind and stick to tree limbs, or are carried by birds as nesting material
Size: 3600px × 5400px
Location: florida
Photo credit: © gary corbett / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: air, america, clinging, epiphyte, eppiphyte, epyphyte, florida, growing, hanging, lichen, moss, plant, promeliad, promeliade, promielide, spanish, states, tree, united, usa, vegetation
