Spanish Moss

There are certain iconic plants that flash through my mind when I think about living here in the south. Enormous, sweeping oak trees lining long, winding driveways. The waxy green leaves and huge white blooms of magnolias. Vibrant pink and white blooms on azaleas. And the curly, sage gray chainlike stems of Spanish moss.

Spanish moss grows rampantly along North Carolina's coast, particularly in one of our favorite vacation spots, Oak Island. When I did a bit of investigation, I was a bit surprised at what I learned. I supposed I always assumed Spanish moss was a lichen, like orchids. Not true, according to Wikipedia.

It's "not biologically related to either mosses or lichens. Instead, it is a flowering plant in the family Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) that grows hanging from tree branches in full sun or partial shade."It ranges from the southeastern US to South America, "growing wherever the climate is warm enough and has a relatively high average humidity."

We have some neighbors who love it enough to pull it out of the trees when they're vacationing on the coast and sling it in their Pine trees here in the Piedmont. I tried to tell 'em once that their moss was deader than a doornail, but they thanked me and continued to dress their trees in dead moss. Good thing I like them so much. But I do smile every time I pass by their house.

What iconic plants do you think of here in the ol' North state?