Spanish Moss on the trees in the city park of new Orleans Louisiana USA
Spanish moss is an epiphyte which absorbs nutrients (especially calcium) and water from the air and rainfall. Spanish moss was once colloquially known as "air plant". While it rarely kills the trees upon which it grows, it lowers their growth rate by reducing the amount of light reaching the trees' own leaves. It also increases wind resistance, which can prove fatal to the host tree in a hurricane. In the southern , the plant seems to show a preference for growth on southern live oak (Quercus virginiana) or bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) because of these trees' high rates of foliar mineral leaching (calcium, magnesium, potassium, and phosphorus) providing an abundant supply of nutrients to the plant,[9] but it can also colonize other tree species such as sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), crepe-myrtles (Lagerstroemia spp.), other oaks, and even pines. Spanish moss shelters a number of creatures, including rat snakes and three species of bats. One species of jumping spider, Pelegrina tillandsiae, has been found only on Spanish , though widely assumed to infest Spanish moss, were not present among thousands of other insects identified in one study.
Size: 4016px × 6016px
Location: City Park, New Orleans,Louisiana USA
Photo credit: © Brenda Kean / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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