There are some lifeforms that have become so associated with certain locales that it is almost impossible to separate the name from the place. Spanish moss is forever linked to the American south and the Gothic stories and ghostly histories therein. For me the image of Spanish moss hanging from a live oak or cypress trees brings back memories of the brief time I spent in Columbia, South Carolina and Savannah Georgia.
Despite its name it is not a form of moss at all but is actually a flowering plant. It takes its nutrients directly from the air and rain and needs neither root nor soil. Thus, Spanish-moss has escaped the bounds of gravity to live in the trees above us, casting withering glances at the earth below, light filtering through its filigree like a delicate, arboreal curtain. Whereas we came down from the trees to find our way among the high grasses of the Serengeti, Spanish-moss has taken the opposite route and found its place high in those same branches; balanced, tenacious, adaptive.
whoisfenton 