'Magnolia Swamp', 1872. Magnolia trees covered in Spanish moss, southern USA. Spanish moss is an epiphytic flowering plant - one that grows on the surface of another plant and obtains moisture and nutrients from the air and from rain, water. From "Picturesque America; or, The Land We Live In, A Delineation by Pen and Pencil of the Mountains, Rivers, Lakes...with Illustrations on Steel and Wood by Eminent American Artists" Vol. I, edited by William Cullen Bryant. [D. Appleton and Company, New York, 1872]