I have always loved Paperwhites, and they are just beginning to bloom here in Mississippi. I recently spotted a bed of Paperwhites in Vicksburg, and couldn't resist capturing them with my camera. Although the recent ice storm had taken its toll on most of the blooms, there were a couple of flowers that were standing tall in the early morning sunshine.

Paperwhites have a very special place in my heart. My husband and I got married when we were in college, and lived in a small garage apartment near the school. Without fail, every Friday afternoon when I got out of class, I would go home and clean that little apartment from top to bottom, including waxing the wood floors.

After I finished cleaning, I would walk down the street a couple of blocks to a vacant lot where there were some Paperwhites scattered around an old home site. I would cut some of the flowers, take them home, and arrange them in one of our "wedding-gift-vases," and you'd have thought I had created a masterpiece worthy of the pages of a magazine. I loved walking around that tiny apartment, smelling the heavenly fragrance of the Paperwhites and admiring my shiny floors and clean house (all four rooms of it!).

To this day, every time I see or smell Paperwhites, they take me back to those days when I was a very young and happy new bride. I'd like to think that the owner of that vacant lot wouldn't have minded me "borrowing" some of the flowers, if he knew how happy they made me.

I love the way the centers of the flowers in the next picture look as if they're "glowing." They remind me of the song, "This Little Light of Mine" ...

Paperwhites are members of the Narcissus family, which is typically associated with Daffodils and Jonquils. Paperwhites are smaller, but what they lack in size, they make up for in fragrance and charm — and what bright and beautiful lagniappe these pretty little white flowers bring to our Mississippi landscapes in the middle of winter.

The day dawned as beautiful as the weatherman had predicted, with brilliant blue skies and abundant sunshine — a perfect day to go rambling with my camera. I headed for one of my favorite country roads, MS Hwy. 22, which runs north and south between Edwards and Flora, Mississippi, winding its way through pasture lands and woodlands.

One of my favorite places along Hwy. 22 is an area about a mile long which is home to several trees that are covered with Spanish Moss.

 Having been born and raised in northeast Louisiana, and having lived in Mississippi most of my life, moss-covered trees have always been a familiar sight, but on that bright January day I decided to get a closer look through the lens of my camera. 

 The moss-draped trees are beautiful from a distance, but up close the graceful, cascading tendrils of moss are truly a fascinating sight.

I did a little research on Spanish Moss (which is also called Florida Moss, Long Moss, or Graybeard), and found that it is not a true moss. It is an epiphyte — a plant that grows on another plant, but does not rely on the host plant for nutrients; epiphytes make their own food. They are sometimes referred to as air plants because most have aerial roots; however, Spanish Moss does not have any roots. It uses its long, thin, scaly stems to wrap around the host tree and hang down from the branches.

You can see some scales in the next two pictures:

The cup-like, permeable scales catch moisture and nutrients from the air and from pockets on the surface of the host. This water-trapping ability allows Spanish Moss to withstand long dry periods. In extreme dry spells, the plant becomes dormant until moisture returns.

I love the way the tendrils weave their way from one branch to another ...

 In places, the tangled masses of moss look like curtains hanging from the limbs of the trees ...

I loved exploring the mossy trees up close through the lens of my camera, and enjoyed learning a little about this amazing plant called Spanish Moss in the process.