One historian credits Spanish conquistadors’ long beards as French explorers’ inspiration for the name “Spanish beard”-a name that evolved to its current form. Early French explorers gave Spanish moss its name. Spanish moss is in fact not Spanish and has nothing to do with Spain. Spanish moss is used by wildlife as food and to line nests and was also used by humans in the late 1800s and early 1900s as a stuffing for furniture and car seat cushions. The seeds produced from these flowers are spread by wind currents. It flowers in the spring, producing small green flowers that are very hard to see. Like other flowering plants, Spanish moss produces its own food by using the energy of the sun, and takes no nutrition from the plant it lives in, so is not a parasite. Its stems and leaves are gray-green in color, and it can form long trailing clusters that shine silver in the sunlight. Spanish moss has no roots, but instead soaks up water from the air by using a spongy coat around its stems and leaves. It is not a true moss, but a flowering plant which has adapted to growing in trees. Spanish Moss ( Tillandsia usneoides) is a plant commonly seen in the low country hanging from trees. The items woven from Spanish moss proved to be durable and waterproof, and best of all to the Confederate government, it was inexpensive. It didn't chafe the horse, cause overheating, and the weave allowed for the sweat to evaporate from the horse. The most obvious advantage of using Spanish moss was the abundance of it in the south. It was used in the place of horsehair for stuffing furniture, a filler in wall plasters and bricks, and in a variety of horse equipment. The weaving of Spanish moss doesn't begin with the Civil War, but rather, at least a century before. Here are some little known facts about how it was use back in the day. Did you about the use of Spanish moss in furniture? Yes that’s right at one time it was used as stuffing and padding, as well as some other uses.

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