When the British first landed on the coast of what today is South Carolina, they saw Live Oaks dripping with a stringy gray matter. To poke fun at one of their enemies, they jokingly called it "Spanish Beard."
The name eventually morphed into Spanish Moss. But, as we like to say in Savannah, it is neither Spanish, nor a Moss. It actually is an airborne flowering plant from the pineapple family. Getting its nutrients from the air, the sun and the rain, it moves freely with the wind. It loves the Live Oaks, but doesn't care for the Magnolias. Being an epiphyte, it does no harm except for one thing, little red bugs make their home in it called chiggers. Be careful they will bite the heck out of you.
In the 1800's, the locals boiled Spanish Moss to kill the chiggers and stuffed their mattresses. It is rumored that Henry Ford, who had a plantation just south of Savannah in Richmond Hill, first stuffed the seats of the Model T with Spanish Moss - a subject for debate.
Today, Spanish Moss gives Savannah and the Low Country a very distinct feel.
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