Spanish Moss Questions

As I was walking around during my recent visit to Savannah, Georgia, I saw a lot of Spanish moss - and I mean just tons of it - draping down off of trees.  A very  cool sight for this Northern Gal. The moss provides a beautiful patina to the historic district.

So I was interested in learning more about this plant. The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Services website provided a lot of helpful information. Turns out this plant is not classed as parasitic. Instead it is an epiphytic plant. This is a plant that does grow on another plant but makes its own food rather than sucking the nutrients out of the host plant. Spanish moss does not have roots. (And now I quote from the website) “It uses its long, thin, scaly stems to wrap around the host tree and hang down from the branches. The leaves are covered with cup-like, permeable scales that ‘catch’ moisture and nutrients from the air and from pockets on the surface of the host.”

Traditionally there were many uses for Spanish moss – stuffing for mattresses, furniture, car seats. It is still used with floral arrangements. Birds, bats, reptiles and bugs call clumps of this moss “home”.   

But there is a down side. First, be wary of picking this moss up off the ground as you might receive nasty bug bits. Second, Spanish moss may damage its host tree by over-shading the leaves and/or weighing down and breaking tree limbs.

When I compare this potential of host tree damage to human relationships, some questions arise:

• ·         Where do we put down our roots and how are we nourished?
• ·         When do we overly rely on others to support us?
• ·         Do we overshadow our family and friends?

Good questions to ask ourselves. Living in mutual support is not in itself a bad thing. One could argue that mutual support is an essential part of healthy human relationships. But I believe that vigilance is required to assure that a balance is maintained - that support does not become smothering, that epiphytic does not becomes parasitic, that we lose sight of our own source of nourishment.  

We observe, we tweak, we love. And maintaining this balance within our relationships assists us along our individual paths of growth and possibilities and joy.

path of growth and possibilities and joy.