The Southern Elegance of Spanish Moss

You’ve seen it in scenes from movies like The Notebook and Forest Gump, and it immediately lets you know that the film’s setting is Southern.

It’s a strange plant that completes my mind’s picture of a lazy day in the South, hanging from the live oak trees in Savannah, Charleston, New Orleans, and many other beautiful southern cities.

It’s known as Spanish Moss.

The curly, wiry concoction grows mainly in the Southern US, Hawaii, South America, the Caribbean, and Mexico. Unable to survive cold weather, it makes its home in the regions closer to the equator.

Now get this, it isn’t a moss, and it’s not Spanish!

History tells us that Native Americans called it “tree hair” (current translation). The French, making fun of the Spaniards’ long wiry beards, referred to it as “Spanish Beard.”  The Spanish settlers returned the insult by calling it “French Hair.”  Somehow, the plant’s name evolved, and today we refer to it as “Spanish Moss.”

It is in the bromeliad family related to the pineapple. And although some say it’s edible, I would have to be awfully hungry to chow down on a Spanish moss sandwich. On second thought, having smelled the plant, I couldn’t get that hungry!

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Spanish Moss does not hurt the tree or plant it calls home, unlike parasitic plants. It gathers nutrients from humidity and even organisms found in airborne dust. Birds use it for nesting material, and early settlers used it for medicinal purposes.

When upholsters refinish antique furniture, they often find Spanish Moss tucked under the fabric covering. It was once used as original stuffing for chairs, fainting couches, and mattresses. It was even woven into blankets. Before the introduction of synthetic materials, Spanish moss was discovered to be sturdy and not susceptible to moths.

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When cleaned and dried, Spanish moss is used by florists and frequently sold as a crafting supply.

My research leads me to believe that voodoo dolls were, and still are, stuffed with this material. I am assuming, rather than delving more deeply online, that perhaps the Spanish Moss makes stabbing the dolls with pins and miniature objects of torture easier. I don’t want to know!

Spanish moss was imprinted on my brain at an early age. My family relocated to Savannah, GA, when I was a little girl. We lived in an apartment in an 1800’s Victorian, ½ block from Forsyth Park. Next to the beautiful marble block patio was a large, short palm tree. The tree had lots of Spanish Moss hanging within arm’s reach of a 6-year-old. My neighbor and a new friend had just moved to Savannah also, and we had never seen anything like it. We spent hours making wigs, hats, and beards from the curly material that first day.

Important discovery:  Spanish Moss is FULL of red bugs, better known as chiggers!

There are few things more beautiful in my memory bank than my first view of a live oak tree or palm draped with Spanish Moss unless it’s a great big bottle of calamine lotion!