Scenic Florida Spanish moss
Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) is a flowering plant that grows upon larger trees, commonly the Southern Live Oak (Quercus virginiana) or Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum) in the southeastern United States from Texas and Florida north to Missouri and Virginia. It is also native to much of Mexico, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Central America, South America and the West Indies as well as being naturalized in Queensland (Australia) and in French Polynesia. The plant's specific name usneoides means "resembling Usnea", and it indeed closely resembles its namesake Usnea, also known as beard lichen, but in fact Spanish moss is not biologically related to either mosses or lichens. Instead, it is an angiosperm 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. The northern limit of its natural range is Northampton County, Virginia, although small strains of Spanish moss have been also found In the southernmost extremes of coastal Delaware then south on the Delmarva in Maryland and Virginia. The primary range is in the southeastern United States (including Puerto Rico), to Argentina, growing wherever the climate is warm enough and has a relatively high average humidity. It has been introduced to similar locations around the world, including Hawaii and Australia. The plant consists of a slender stem bearing alternate thin, curved or curly, heavily scaled leaves 2–6 cm (– in) long and 1 mm ( in) broad, that grow vegetatively in chain-like fashion (pendant) to form hanging structures up to 6 m (240 in)[5] in length. The plant has no aerial roots[5] 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: 7360px × 4912px
Location: Northwest Florida - USA
Photo credit: © Richard Higgins / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: bald, color, colorful, colour, colourful, cypress, florida, landscape, live, moss, nature, oak, path, scenic, southern, spanish, trees, walk
