Measurement of Atmospheric Fluorine. Analyses of Rain Waters and Spanish Moss Exposures.

Airborne chemical elements in Spanish moss

“…* * * as much as 45% of analysed metals could be removed by washing. Maclntire, Hardin, andHester (1952, p. 1368) found analyses of Spanish moss useful in measuring relative degrees of atmospheric fluorine at different locations, but they did not determine whether the increases in fluorine content in the experimental plants were due to metabolic functions of the plants or to chemical or physical fixation on the plant. In a study of air pollution as measured by analysis of the moss Hypnum cupressiforme, Goodman and Roberts (1971, p. 291) …”

“…Maclntire, Hardin, and Hester (1952) transplanted specimens of Spanish moss that contained about 27 ppm fluorine in ash when growing in Florida to sites in Tennessee at different distances from factories that emitted fluorine from their stacks. After 3 months the fluorine content of the transplanted specimens ranged from 100 ppm to as much as 2,418 ppm on a dry-weight basis, the amount in the specimen being inversely proportional to the distance of the sample from the factory.…”

Lime Papers and Indicator Plants in Fluorine Air Pollution Investigations

“…However, this method required the continuous time of several men to tend the air-absorption apparatus. Maclntire et al (5) used Spanish moss as a means of absorbing atmospheric fluoride. Compton and Remmert (3) have used potted buckwheat plants in a somewhat similar manner.…”

Atmospheric Fluorine, Fluorine Acquired by Forage Cultures in Outdoor and Washed Atmospheres at Columbia, Tenn.

“…However, abnormal occurrences of fluorine may occur as particulates in localities where rock phosphate is mined and processed, and as gaseous phases in those locales where fluoric emissions come from phos-phate, phosphorus, and other manufacturing operations (1,3). Such occurrences have been determined through 3-year analyses of a succession of replicated exposures of Spanish moss at different points in Tennessee (5).…”