They are not parasites. Without soil as a source of nutrients, these plants have evolved the capacity to make use of minerals dissolved in the water which flows across leaves and down branches. Spanish moss plants appear to vary in mineral content and it has been proven that they gain a significant portion of their nutrients from stem run-off from the trees on which they are anchored. The native ranges of Spanish moss and ball moss include the entire state of Florida. Ball moss can be found along the margins of new world continents from the southern U.S. to central Argentina.
Spanish moss grows as far north as Virginia.
It is believed to have evolved in the Peruvian Andes and can be found growing as far south as Argentina and Chile. This gives it the broadest natural geographic range of any bromeliad. The genus Tillandsia is one of three sub-families of the Bromeliaceae family. The leaves of all Tillandsias are entire-they have no spines on the edges of the leaves. There are some 500 recognized species of Tillandsia, as well as many cultivated hybrids.