Spanish moss

High school (ages 12+)
Animals & Nature

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/spanish-moss

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the scientific name?Tillandsia usneoides
2. What is the diet?Atmospheric absorption of moisture and dissolved nutrients via trichomes; photosynthetic
3. What is Spanish moss and where does it grow?Spanish moss is a plant that hangs like long gray hair from trees. It lives in warm, humid places in the Americas, from the southeastern United States all the way down to parts of South America.
4. How does Spanish moss get its water and food?It has special silvery scales called trichomes that soak up water from dew, fog, and rain. The plant takes nutrients from the air, not from the trees it hangs on.

Epiphyte: A plant that grows non-parasitically upon another plant, deriving its moisture and nutrients from the air and rain.
Trichomes: Epidermal appendages on plants, in Tillandsia usneoides they are specialized scales for water and nutrient absorption.
Bromeliad: A family of tropical American plants, including Spanish moss, often epiphytic, with stiff leaves and colorful flowers.
Microhabitat: A small, localized habitat within a larger environment that has unique conditions supporting specific organisms.