Spanish moss

Spanish moss is a rootless plant found hanging from many of the trees here in Florida. This plant absorbs water and nutrients from the air through its scales. Spanish moss is a bundle of curly, wiry, silvery-scaled stems and leaves. It looks like a bunch of old string that someone threw into the branches. Spanish moss blooms April - June. Spanish moss hangs down up to 6 feet from tree branches.

Legend of Spanish moss

A long time ago, back during the days of the Spanish exploration and conquest of Florida, native people lived here. These people were called Seminoles. After their long voyages to the New World the Spaniards disocovered the beauty of the native girls here. One day a Spaniard was trying to catch a native girl. As she ran the Spaniard ran after her. She ran as fast as she could, but the Spaniard ran faster. Finally, to escape, this girl climbed up into a big oak tree. The Spaniard climbed up after her. This big oak tree hung out over a river. When the Spaniard reached out to grab the girl she quickly dove into the river and swam away. The Spaniard went to dive into the water after her. As he dove off the tree limb his long, bushy, beard got caught on the smaller branches of the tree. As he fell past the branches his beard was ripped right off his face. In his pain he was not able to chase after the girl and she got away. That is how spanish moss came to be.

FUN FACT: Homosassa Springs used to have a factory that collected spanish moss and sold it to other factories. Spanish moss was used as stuffing in seat cushions. The Homosassa Springs factory was in business until the end of the 1950's.