Tillandsia usneoides, commonly called Spanish moss, is an epiphytic angiosperm in Bromeliaceae, the taxonomic family that also includes the pineapple. Despite its common name, Spanish moss is not a moss. Its slender shoots hang from supports, and conspicuous surface trichomes contribute to its silvery appearance and water relations.[ref]
Tillandsia usneoides in Plants of the World Online. Accepted classification; Kew Species Profile: habit and trichomes
A 2021 study made surface water transport visible. Fluorescent droplets spread along shoots with intact trichome wings but much less effectively after those wings were removed. Imaging showed neighboring flexible wings flattening in succession as the wetting front advanced: a coupling between surface tension and deformable plant structures.[ref]
Domino-like water transport on Tillandsia through flexible trichome wings by Nami Ha and others. Results, Figure3 and sequential-deformation observations
This example separates three stages that are easy to collapse into one: bringing water to a shoot, spreading it over the surface, and absorbing it into living tissue. Seeing the wet front advance establishes transport along the surface; it does not by itself measure the rate at which every living cell takes up that water.
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