= Tillandsia usneoides
{c}
= Spanish moss
{c}
{synonym}
<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.<Tillandsia usneoides in Plants of the World Online>[Accepted classification; Kew Species Profile: habit and trichomes]{ref}
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.<Domino-like water transport on Tillandsia through flexible trichome wings by Nami Ha and others>[Results, Figure3 and sequential-deformation observations]{ref}
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.
The <epiphyte>'s supporting branch therefore supplies a place to grow, while the shoot surface solves part of the water-collection problem. Physical attachment and physiological resource acquisition need not occur at the same site.
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