Tillandsia. Tillandsia fasciculata (left), with Tillandsia usneoides hanging from left side. Tillandsia utriculata (right), with Tillandsia recurvata as inset on left. All drawn by P.N.Honychurch.

Hogan (1978) found pollen of Tillandsia in the Glades site at Fort Center on Lake Okeechobee. Since the flowers are pollinated by animals, the people must have been using them for something. Most have presumed they used Tillandsia for medicine, but it may not have been that simple. Whitford (1943) reported that “in the southern regions, the natives gathered the abundant Spanish moss from the trees.” They then wove the vascular bundles into what he called “blankets.” He had found the blankets among

remains of the Koasati “and the people who built certain mounds in Florida used [Spanish moss] frequently” (Whitford 1941). Kimball (1994) recorded that moss is still used among the Koasati, where it is spun into strings, mattresses, and used in weaving. He quoted from one of his informants, “They looked for black Spanish moss in the forest, and when they brought it back they hung it up, scrubbed it with itself, and when they finished scrubbing it and finished lengthening it, they spun it.” They even have the word statihká:cin, which is a heddle for weaving Spanish moss.