Birds use the moss for their nests, many insects make their homes inside clumps of it, and snakes and frogs hide within its long tendrils. It is commonly found on oak and cypress but can grow on a variety of species, and provides support to a variety of animal species. It doesn’t have roots, but takes in moisture through permeable scales along its leaves. It’s genus name is a nod to physician Elias Tillands, who was so afraid of water that he was known to walk several extra miles around a lake rather than take a boat a few hundred feet across.Ĭontrary to popular belief, Spanish moss is not a parasite and does not actually feed off the tree for nutrients or cause it harm, but simply wraps its wiry tendrils around the tree for support. Its species name “usneoides” means that it has an appearance like moss – though is not actually a moss, but rather an epiphytic bromeliad, with long threadlike festoons that can grow several feet in length off of tree limbs.

Spanish moss ( Tillandsia usneoides) is best known for its stunning accent to a wooded landscape, but it is neither moss, nor Spanish.

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