Talk:Spanish moss

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Contents 1 Harvest relevance 2 Northern extensions 3 removed "folklore" section 4 Growth Rate 5 Human Uses 6 Polution Susceptibility

[edit] Harvest relevance

At one time, some 5,000 tons of Spanish moss were harvested and used in the U.S. alone.

This sounds like nearly nothing. Can someone come up with a comparison with tonnage from the harvest of some other decorative plant? Tempshill 01:10, 8 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Northern extensions

Why does spanish moss extend all the way north to Southern parts of the Atlanta area where elevation is low but does not come farther into Rome, GA where it is almost 500 ft lower.

[edit] removed "folklore" section

I took this out as it is not really about spanish moss:

==Folklore==

Charleston, South Carolina, has told the story of a Cuban who came to the area with his Spanish fiancée in the 1700s to start a plantation near the city. Among other features mentioned for the bride-to-be was her beautiful, flowing raven hair. As the couple was walking through the forest to reach the location of their future plantation, they were attacked and killed by an army of the Cherokee tribe, who were not happy to have these strangers on their land. As a final warning to stay away from the Cherokee nation, they cut off the long, dark hair of the bride-to-be and threw it up into an oak tree. As they came back day after day, week after week, they noticed that the hair had shriveled and turned grey and had also spread throughout the tree. Wherever the Cherokees went, the moss followed them and would eventually chase them out of their homeland of South Carolina. To this day, if one will stand under a live oak tree, one will hear the moaning of the woman and will see the moss jump from tree to tree.

How is this not about Spanish moss? It seems like a wonderful bit of folklore about the plant. Or is this in fact referring to some other plant? A reference for this story would be nice. Some other interesting creation stories for Spanish moss can be found at <http://www.bcgov.net/bftlib/spanish.htm#Legends%20of%20Spanish%20Moss>. I'll wait a bit, and if there are no objections I will put this story back in the main entry. (Millifolium)

[edit] Growth Rate

Does anyone have information regarding the growth rate or life cycles of spanish moss?

KMGator 12:26, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Human Uses

Should the name Indian be changed to Native American

Soapthgr8 14:46, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

No. 68.210.28.152 (talk) 14:07, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Polution Susceptibility

Susceptible to air pollution? This statement seems pretty thin currently. EPA keeps saying Houston has very poor air and the stuff thrives here. Perhaps someone could add a link to a study or explain what they mean? On the surface, almost all living plants and animals are "susceptible" to "pollution". If they breath air, then they would be "susceptible" to "air pollution." Some other phrasing might satisfy, but the current one is so general as to be valueless.--Mokru 18:52, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

I agree. I added a fact tag in the hopes someone is willing to look this up and provide some useful information on it. Otherwise I will, or anyone can if they want, remove the statement at a later time. Gh5046 19:30, 28 October 2007 (UTC)