PANISH moss is not only one of the unique and decorative features of the southern landscape, but a commercially important asset as well. It is the basis of a rather distinctive Louisiana industry, one that provides periodic or regular employment for many people of the state. Growing on a variety of trees in the more humid portions of tropical and subtropical latitudes, Spanish moss is widely distributed in the Americas. It ranges from Texas to Florida and eastern Virginia in the Coastal Plain of the United States, and extends southward through the West Indies, Mexico, Central and South America to southern Brazil. Especially in swamplands whole forests stand . . festooned and draped with long, flowing beards of Spanish moss, misty gray and wraithlike in appearance, blending with, yet subtly hiding what lies beyond. (Figures 1 and 2.) The plant has been known by numerous local names: long moss, black moss, Florida moss, crape moss, and wool crape. Early Louisiana settlers called it Barbe Espagnol or Spanish beard; the term Spanish moss has come into general use only in recent years. Belying its name, it is not a moss at all, but a flowering plant belonging to the pineapple family, Bromeliaceae. Called originally Tillandsia usneoides, its accepted scientific name is now Dendropogon usneoides. If one examines the festoons of moss, he finds a tangled mass of stringy, spiraling stems, jointed every inch or so. The leaves are awlshaped and in their axils are borne inconspicuous, fragrant green flowers, blooming in May and June. Formation of seed is slow, and dispersal is delayed until the following March. Although seeds are abundant, seedlings are uncommon and propagation is accomplished more frequently by fragments of festoons carried from one branch to another by winds or birds. When a piece of moss lodges on a limb, the living part of the stem in contact with the bark dies and sloughs off, leaving the inner fiber to hold the plant in place. Moss has great capacity for moisture, which is absorbed through tiny gray scales that cover every part of the stem and leaves, while dust dissolved in the water supplies the necessary salts. Contrary to popular belief, Spanish moss is not a parasite, but is a true epiphyte, a plant deriving its sustenance from the atmosphere and lacking root connection with its host. Simple proof is found in the fact that it will live indefinitely on wires and fences. It is true that the plant is harmful to trees when the increased weight of rain-soaked festoons, buffeted by strong winds, causes branches to break. The moss, however, does not smother trees, as is commonly thought. An indirect cause of the belief that it is parasitic and therefore harmful, is its preference for sunny exposures, which tends to inhibit its growth on trees having dense foliage and to encourage it on dead or dying trees; the casual observer may confuse cause and result. After proper treatment the inner fibrous portion of Spanish moss resembles horsehair, and like the latter it is tough, durable, resilient, and unlikely to lump. Because of these properties it