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Spanish Moss |
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Spanish moss, fibrous grayish-green epiphyte epiphyte or air plant, any plant that does not normally root in the soil but grows upon another living plant while remaining independent of it except for support (thus differing from a parasite). ..... Click the link for more information. (Tillandsia usneoides) that hangs on trees of tropical America and the Southern states, also called Florida, southern, or long moss. It is not a true moss but a member of the pineapple family, and has inconspicuous flowers. It is used for stuffing furniture and as a packing material. Spanish moss is classified in the division Magnoliophyta Magnoliophyta , division of the plant kingdom consisting of those organisms commonly called the flowering plants, or angiosperms. The angiosperms have leaves, stems, and roots, and vascular, or conducting, tissue (xylem and phloem). ..... Click the link for more information. , class Liliopsida, order Bromeliales, family Bromeliaceae. Spanish mossEpiphyte (Tillandsia usneoides) in the pineapple family, found in southern North America, the West Indies, and Central and South America. It often hangs in large, beardlike, silvery-gray masses from trees and other plants and even on telephone poles, but it is not parasitic or structurally intertwined with its host. It takes in carbon dioxide and rainwater or dew for photosynthesis through tiny, hairlike scales that cover its threadlike leaves and long, threadlike stems. It absorbs nutrients from dust and solvents in rainwater, or from decaying organic matter around its aerial roots. Stalkless yellow flowers appear rarely. Spanish moss is sometimes used as a filler in packing boxes and upholstery, and around potted plants or floral arrangements. Spanish moss silvery gray plant whose threadlike fronds hang from trees in the South. [Am. Culture: EB, IX: 400–401] See : Southern States Spanish Moss (Tillandsia usneoides), an epiphytic plant of the Bromeliaceae family, it is found in a region from the south-eastern United States to Argentina and Chile. Spanish moss covers the trunks and branches of trees with gray strands that resemble lichens. The young plant attaches itself to the bark of the tree with its roots. The stems are slender, threadlike, and branching, with subulate leaves. The surface of the plant is covered with scales that serve to absorb dew and rainwater. As the stems grow, their lower parts die; the length of living shoots may be 15-20 m. The flowers are small, and the fruit is a capsule. Most often the plants multiply vegetatively—by pieces of the stem—but they also reproduce by seeds that are covered with hairs and are carried by the wind. The stems of Spanish moss are used for stuffing mattresses, making upholstered furniture, and the like. How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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