Spanish moss, Tillandsia usneoides, is probably the most widely recognized and commonly illustrated holoepiphyte. It is a bromeliad, i.e., a member of the pineapple family (Bromeliaceae), typically growing as long, tangled, hanging strands on trees, as in the bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) swamps and bayous of Louisiana. Roots are totally absent, and this "air plant" or "atmospheric epiphyte" is able to absorb liquid water or water vapor from saturated air through the surface of the leaf via special plant hairs (trichomes). These hairs gives the shoot of this species a felt-like, silvery appearance.

Spanish moss is widespread in the American tropics and subtropics, especially around the West Indies, carried from one tree to another by birds, which eat the fruits and later defecate the seeds.

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