Spanish Moss

Spanish moss is a flowering plant that grows draped from trees. Wikipedia says it is neither a moss nor a lichen but a bromeliad, native to Mexico, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Central and South America, and the south-eastern United States, where it hangs on southern live oak and bald cypress. It has slender stems with scaled leaves and no roots, and small red-pink flowers. Wikipedia lists its uses as mattress stuffing, packing, mulch, insulation and fibre. Cunningham prints no Latin name under his Spanish Moss heading, so the match to this species rests on Wikipedia, which gives Spanish moss as the common name of Tillandsia usneoides alone. Cunningham lists the power of protection. He says that grown on or in the home it is protective, that it is used to stuff protection poppets, and that it is added to protective sachets. He prints no element, planet or gender for it. Kynes has no entry for this plant.