<P> Spanish - moss is an epiphyte which absorbs nutrients and water through its leaves from the air and rainfall . </P> <P> While it rarely kills the tree upon which it grows, it can occasionally become so thick that it shades the tree's leaves and lowers its growth rate . </P> <P> In the southern U.S., the plant seems to show a preference for growth on southern live oak (Quercus virginiana) and bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) because of these trees' high rates of foliar mineral leaching (calcium, magnesium, potassium, and phosphorus) providing an abundant supply of nutrients to the plant, but it can also colonize other tree species such as sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), crepe - myrtles (Lagerstroemia spp .), other oaks, and even pines . </P> <P> Spanish - moss shelters a number of creatures, including rat snakes and three species of bats . One species of jumping spider, Pelegrina tillandsiae, has been found only on Spanish - moss . Chiggers, though widely assumed to infest Spanish - moss, were not present among thousands of other arthropods identified in one study . </P>

Why does spanish moss grow on some trees and not others