If you haven't visited First Landing State Park, you might never know that Virginia Beach is considered the northernmost habitat for Spanish moss.

Once you are inside the park, you'll see the silvery gray moss hanging from trees whenever you are near water and sometimes when you are not.

Spanish moss drapes over branches on cypress trees, live oaks and other trees and plants that grow near or in freshwater ponds throughout First Landing. The exotic adornment grows in delicate strands up to 20 feet long.

Unlike mistletoe and other tree parasites, Spanish moss uses trees only for support. Known as an epiphyte, or air plant, Spanish moss hangs from trees, but gets all its moisture and nutrients from sun, rainfall and air.

The wispy stems don't look like moss or any plant for the matter. Another name for Spanish moss is "graybeard," which may be more of an apt description.

You could even think that Spanish moss was dead unless you look closely at it to see signs of life this time of year. About a month ago, it began to bloom with a tiny greenish flower down in the crook of some of its side branches.

Now, you can see its tiny brown open seedpods from which minute seeds have been carried by the wind. The seeds will begin to grow when they land in crevices on trees or other plants that will hold them in place.

Spanish moss has tiny scales up and down its stems that catch and trap moisture - so much moisture that it can sustain Spanish moss through drought. Therein lies another unusual feature of this seemingly lifeless plant.

Because of its ability to retain moisture, Spanish moss may go down in the annals of weather-forecasting science as a result of a study by University of Pennsylvania biology professor Brent Helliker

Spanish moss will be collected weekly in First Landing and in Florida, the moss's southernmost range. By studying moisture that Spanish moss has stored, Helliker hopes to understand what the makeup of humidity in the atmosphere has been on regular basis.

Because humidity is so important to weather forecasting, information learned from Spanish moss may help weather forecasters predict hurricanes, storm and other weather more accurately.

For a plant that looks like it's not even alive, Spanish moss plays a lively role in both botany and meteorology.