Winter

Photo credit to bfreethree, eHow Member http://i.ehow.com/images/GlobalPhoto/Articles/2082150/j0407129-main_Full.jpg

As winter comes to the Northern Hemisphere, the days grow shorter until the winter solstice at the exact moment when the Sun appears to be the furthest south, the day that has the least hours of sunlight. We know that it is really the fact that the Earth is tilted on its axis as it orbits the Sun that makes it appear that the Sun is moving south in the sky. This moment occurs sometime between December 19th and December 23rd; however, we usually consider December 21st to be the "shortest" day and the beginning of Winter.

So here in Utah the temperatures are in the 20s and 30s F and we have a couple of inches of snow on the ground. Winter, right? I would like to share a poem about winter coming to Florida. This poem is also from 1934 and by Lila Neville.

SIGNAL FIRES


In yester-years, so I have heard,
When Indians roamed at will,
They used to light their signal fires
On top of some high hill
To warn their friends from plain to plain,
In tepees far away,
That they must flee or merge to fight
A stronger tribe than they.

Dame Nature, too, lights signal fires!
The maple blazing red
First warns our Northern neighbors of
The time not far ahead,
When "Big Chief Winter," white and fierce,
With warriors "Cold" and "Snow,"
Will charge; and they can but be safe
Down here, where summers grow.

Poinsettias glowing brilliant red
And oranges turning gold,
Green grass and lots of healthful sun
Making the world unfold,
The change in music of the birds
That echoes long, and clear,
Are signal fires in Florida
That winter is drawing near.

--mak

Spanish moss

(Credit for picture to http://tour.airstreamlife.com/weblog/Tampa%20Spanish%20Moss%201.jpg)

Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) is one of the defining characteristics of Florida and other parts of the Southern United States, even Argentina where the weather is warm and humid enough. Spanish moss is not related to moss or even lichens, like the beard lichen. It is actually a flowering plant of the Bromeliad family—like pineapple and ornamental bromeliads found in flower beds!

According to legend, “there was once a traveler who came with his Spanish fiancée in the 1700s to start a plantation near the city of Charleston SC. She was a beautiful bride-to-be with long flowing raven hair. As the couple was walking over the plantation sight near the forest, and making plans for their future, they were suddenly attacked by a band of Cherokee who were not happy to share the land of their forefathers with strangers. 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 in an old live oak tree. As the people came back day after day and week after week, they began to notice the hair had shriveled and turned grey and had begun spreading from tree to tree. Over the years the moss spread from South Carolina to Georgia and Florida. To this day, if one stands under a live oak tree, one will see the moss jump from tree to tree…” (http://soggybottomtours.com/Tales.html).

Spanish moss is an epiphyte, meaning that it grows on other plants. It doesn’t obtain its food or water from the other plant, however, only support. The branches of the spreading oaks in Florida provide a wonderful perch from which the Spanish moss can hang and collect water from the humid air. Hanging there blowing in the wind, drenched in sunlight, photosynthesis can provide the food it needs to flourish.

The blooms are small flowers that are wind pollinated. Roots, if present at all, are just for hanging onto the rough bark of the trees in which it lives.

Spanish moss has been used for arts and crafts, bedding for flower gardens, and even for stuffing mattresses and pillows. Many people falsely believe that it harbors chiggers (a really nasty little mite that redefines the term “to itch.”); however, this is only true after the Spanish moss falls to the ground.

Spanish moss gives a somewhat gothic appearance to the south and has been the subject of and the inspiration for many poems and songs (including one by Gordon Lightfoot). My favorite poem is this one from 1934 by Lila Neville entitled

WET MOSS

The dripping, tangled masses
Sway with ease
Among the groping branches
Of the trees.

The wind slides through the filigree
Out of sight
To moan and utter whispers
Through the night.

And so it seems to haunt me, clinging moss and weird,
As ragged and unkempt as Neptune’s hoary beard.

--mak

Cypress "Knees"

(credit for picture to z.about.com)

Deep in the flood plains of rivers in the Southern United States are the Bald Cypress trees. These trees thrive with their feet in the water almost all year long.

The trees that grow in the swamp are typically flared at the base and possess “knees.” The “knees” are projections of the root system that extend both up out of the water and down deep into the muddy soil. It has been thought that these “knees” were pneumatophores (better look this one up!); however, removing them doesn’t seem to change the health of the tree. On the other hand, Cypress trees growing in more upland areas (not swamps)do not have the buttressing (wide base) of the trunk or “knees.”

It could be that removing the upper part of the “knee” really doesn’t make much difference because the lower portion which extends into the mud is still intact and that the “knee” is there only to help anchor the tree.

As a youngster in Central Florida, I used to harvest these, clean and polish them and make various items such as lamps, book ends, and so on.

--mak