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Graybeard

Tillandsia usneoides, Bromeliaceae

Sources last read 13 September 2026.

Not yet rated How forgiving it is has not been judged here yet.

Also called black moss, Florida moss, gray moss, hanging moss, long beard, long moss, New Orleans moss, old man's beard, southern moss, Spanish Moss, tree beard and vegetable hair.

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Toxicity is partly unassessed

  • Not assessed for cats. This plant is not on the ASPCA list. That is not a finding of safety: none of the sources read for this site gives an answer either way. Treat it as unknown.
  • Not assessed for dogs. This plant is not on the ASPCA list. That is not a finding of safety: none of the sources read for this site gives an answer either way. Treat it as unknown.
  • Not assessed for people. RHS publishes no harm statement for this plant. That is not a finding of safety: none of the sources read for this site gives an answer either way. Treat it as unknown.

What the sources say about its care

Light
Full sun
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Water
Well-drained
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Humidity

No source read publishes a humidity figure for any plant on this site. What follows is general guidance for foliage plants.

ASHRAE recommends indoor relative humidity between 30% and 60% 30–60%
Penn State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Temperature

How cold this tolerates, not what it prefers. No source read for this site publishes a preferred range for a plant indoors.

H1C — 5–10°C 5–10 °C
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Toxic to cats
Not on the ASPCA list. That is not a finding of safety.
ASPCA · read 13 September 2026
Toxic to dogs
Not on the ASPCA list. That is not a finding of safety.
ASPCA · read 13 September 2026
Harmful to people
No statement of harm to people is published for this plant; that absence is not evidence it is safe.
RHS · read 13 September 2026

Routine care

Watering
Outdoors, Spanish moss needs no water or fertilizer. Indoors, water it occasionally, letting it dry between waterings; it benefits from liquid fertilizer now and then, diluted to half strength or weaker.
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Feeding
Outdoors, Spanish moss needs neither water nor fertilizer. Indoors it needs watering now and then, drying out between waterings, and does well with occasional liquid fertilizer at half strength or weaker.
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Mist every day with rainwater between late spring and mid-autumn, and give a low-nitrogen liquid feed at quarter strength each month.
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Propagation
Division is easy: tear off a section and mount it on something suitable, for example driftwood, a wooden basket or a tree branch.
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Detach a length of stem to propagate.
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Pruning
Prune occasionally so it does not grow too heavy, which can break branches or cast too much shade on the tree.
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Pruning is not needed.
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Pests and diseases
Usually free of pests and diseases.
RHS · read 13 September 2026

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About the plant

Spanish moss is an epiphytic flowering plant that often grows upon large trees in tropical and subtropical climates. It is native to much of Mexico, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Central America, South America, the Southern United States, and West Indies. It has been naturalized in Queensland (Australia). It is colloquially known as "old man's beard" in several places, and known as "grandpa's beard" in French Polynesia. It has the widest distribution of any bromeliad.

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · read 13 September 2026

Native range
Trop. & Subtrop. America
World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.
Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
Souther USA, Mexico, Central & South America
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Tropical & Subtropical America
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Climate
wet tropical
World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.
Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
Growth form
epiphyte
World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.
Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
Epiphyte, Herbaceous Perennial; habit weeping
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Pendulous weeping (evergreen)
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Size
Height 10–36 in; width 6–24 in
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Height 4-8 metres; spread 4-8 metres after 5–10 years
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Flowering
Flowers green; blooms in fall, summer
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Flowers green in spring and autumn; blue in spring and autumn; yellow in spring and autumn
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Uses

What sources record people using this plant for. A traditional or medicinal use listed here is a record of use, not advice to eat it or treat anything with it.

Its fibers were woven into rough cloth for bedding, horse blankets and floor mats, and twisted into cord used as rope. The plant has many other uses.
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026

Other Tillandsia

More of the Bromeliaceae family

Plants with similar care

Sources

What this does not cover

The figures above are what published sources say, not measurements of the plant in your room. They say nothing about your pot size, your water, the season, or how far from the glass the plant stands, and those decide more than any figure here does.

Humidity has no species figure because no source read for this site publishes one, and the only temperature published for this plant is a cold floor. The simulator fills those gaps with general figures for its kind of plant, marked as general and listed on how we read sources. Where a toxicity row says the plant was not assessed, that is the absence of a finding and not a finding of safety.

If something is already wrong, the diagnosis tool asks about the soil, the window and the watering, which is where the answer usually is.