Tillandsia unispecific [1] , or Spanish moss , or Louisiana moss [1] , or Spanish beard ( Latin Tillandsia usneoides ) - a plant of the Bromeliad family .
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An aerophytic plant, devoid of roots and clinging to the bark of trees with its thin, almost filiform stems. These stems are covered with scaly hairs, which serve to absorb water [2] .
It is the Spanish moss that gives the American rural landscape an unusual, almost mystical look, especially on a moonlit foggy night, when moonlight is filtered through drooping “beards” casting long narrow shadows between which fireflies fly.
Content
Distribution
Distributed in well-moistened tropical and subtropical regions of the New World, from the south and southeast of the United States in the north to the subtropical regions of Argentina and Chile in the south. There are several varieties and subspecies. In Bolivia it rises to a height of up to 3,500 meters (in the capital of the country, La Paz, Spanish moss grows directly on power lines ).
Title
The appearance was reminiscent of the Indians, whose beard does not grow well, the thick beards of the Spanish conquistadors who arrived in America in the 16th century, therefore they call him the Spanish beard [3] or Spanish moss [4] [5] . The plant was nicknamed Louisiana Moss because of the widespread mouth of the Mississippi River ( Louisiana ), where it grows on swamp cypresses , in the wetlands .
Economic Significance and Application
In colonial times, the thin, flexible stems of this plant called “tree hair”, “plant horse hair”, “ Caragate ” were used for stuffing mattresses [6] and pillows, making upholstered furniture, now they continue to use it for making ritual voodoo dolls.
During the construction of the nest, Spanish moss is used by birds.
Biological Description
Spanish moss is a flowering plant , it is not really a moss (propagating by spores) or lichen , although it looks like a lichen asleep with its blue-green coloration, hence its specific name - tillandsia is eared.
The plant usually densely wraps around its trunks and crowns of large trees (usually cypresses and old American oaks ) with its long gray-green or gray-blue strands. A young plant roots strengthened in the bark of a tree, but does not parasitize on it. The stalks of Spanish moss are thin, threadlike, highly branched, with small awl-shaped leaves. The entire surface of the plant is covered with small scales, which are used to absorb rainfall, dew and moisture from the humidified tropical air. As new stems grow, the lower part of the plant gradually dies. The length of live shoots is 15-20 cm, dead shoots continue to hang from the young, forming "beards" up to 3 m long.
The flowers are small, yellow.
The fruit is a box .
Most often, this plant propagates vegetatively - that is, pieces of stems that are carried through the forest and edges during the hurricane season, during tornadoes , in rainy, windy weather. Small seeds covered with hairs are carried by the wind.
Spanish Moss Trees | ||||||||||
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Ultimate, 2011 .
- ↑ Aerophytes // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
- ↑ North American United States // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
- ↑ Louisiana // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
- ↑ Mississippi, state // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
- ↑ Tillandsia // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
Literature
- Louisiana Moss // Lombard - Mesitol. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1974. - (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia : [in 30 vol.] / Ch. Ed. A. M. Prokhorov ; 1969-1978, vol. 15).
- Louisiana Moss / G. Yu. Konechnaya // Lomonosov - Manizer. - M .: Big Russian Encyclopedia, 2011. - P. 109. - ( Big Russian Encyclopedia : [in 35 vols.] / Ch. Ed. Yu. S. Osipov ; 2004—2017, vol. 18). - ISBN 978-5-85270-351-4 .
Links
- Tillandsia asneusiform (English) : information on the GRIN website.
- Spanish Moss, or Tillandsia Usneoides ( Tillandsia usneoides , Bromeliaceae ) molbiol.ru