Native from the southeastern United States through Mexico, the Caribbean, and into northern South America including Colombia and Venezuela, this epiphytic bromeliad forms sprawling pendent mats that can reach 10–20 ft long, thriving in warm, humid air and bright, filtered light; it anchors to bark but obtains moisture and nutrients from rainfall, dew, and dust via dense silvery trichomes that turn the strands gray when dry and green when wet, using CAM photosynthesis to conserve water, and spreads both by seeds equipped with silky parachutes that snag on new branches and by vegetative fragments that easily re-root after wind dispersal, allowing colonies to expand rapidly across live oaks, cypress, and many other hosts; tiny greenish flowers appear seasonally and emit a faint evening fragrance that attracts small pollinators, while the extensive tangles provide nesting and roosting material for birds and bats as well as shelter for arthropods; historically the inner fibers (called “moss fiber”) were retted and cleaned for stuffing mattresses, furniture, and early automobile seats, and today it remains popular as a natural liner in horticulture and floral work after proper cleaning. Photographed in Colombia.