BALL MOSS

(or is it really a moss?)

By Carolyn McDaniel, Awards Director, FBMG F2001

 

             First off it is everywhere you look in trees here in the south.  You know that ball of stuff with many little grayish-green "pincushion-like" growths or with little fingers sticking out everywhere on the big oak tree, pecan trees and sometimes power lines.  A moss it is not.  It is actually an epiphyte, (Tillandsia recurvata), a bromeliad and kin to the pineapple. Other similar epiphytes are ferns and orchids

 

             Although somewhat annoying and unsightly for some people, it generally will not harm your trees. Because it is an epiphyte, aka air plant, it feeds off of air, dust, and rain by absorbing nutrients through the atmosphere.  Its stems and leaves are the nutrient uptakers.  Ball Moss is actually beneficial to our environment by fixing atmospheric nitrogen and adding it to the soil.

 

             This interesting specimen does flower especially after a rain.   However the insignificant flower on a stem which is somewhat longer than the rest of the plant is hardly noticeable.  Ball moss blooms every spring, resulting in tiny purple flowers which form a seed pod that bursts and the fuzzy seeds spread.  Because the seeds are fuzzy they easily stick to rough limbs of trees and begin to grow.

 

             Ball Moss, for the most part, prefers low light found in the more shaded limbs of a tree, gentle air movement and lots of humidity.  Because they prefer low light, it is unlikely they have any impact on the health of a tree unless the tree itself is growing in an area that is too shaded for proper growth.

 

             Just think, you can have a profuse plant that flowers, does not need potting soil and needs no care. It could be the prefect plant for those of us who are, shall we say, plant challenged.  But if you don’t like them, just pick them off your tree and throw them on the ground to enhance the soil.  There are sprays you can use but why when it is not necessary.  So just set back and enjoy these interesting little plants.

 

 

Photo courtesy of the Image Archive of Central Texas Plants  (http://www.sbs.utexas.edu/)