Meanings
plural Spanish mosses
- uncountableusuallyA gray epiphyte that hangs down from trees, Tillandsia usneoides, native to the southeastern US and throughout humid tropical and subtropical parts of the Americas.
The train sped on down through Florida, through the forests and swamps, stark and bewitched with Spanish moss, and through the mile upon mile of citrus groves.
1954, Ian Fleming, “The Everglades”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 123Synonyms: old man's beard, black moss, barbe espagnole, Spanish beard, treebeard
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA gray epiphyte that hangs down from trees, Tillandsia usneoides, native to the southeastern US and throughout humid tropical and subtropical parts of the Americas.
More synonyms by meaning
noundense festoons of greenish-grey hairlike flexuous strands anchored to tree trunks and branches by sparse wiry roots; southeastern United States and West Indies to South America
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Bulgarian испа́нски мъх
- испа́нски мъх (ispánski măh)Tillandsia usneoides
Catalan molsa espanyola
- molsa espanyolaTillandsia usneoides
Chinese Mandarin 松蘿鳳梨 /松萝凤梨
- 松蘿鳳梨 /松萝凤梨 (sōngluófènglí)Tillandsia usneoides
French mousse espagnole, barbe de vieillard
- mousse espagnoleTillandsia usneoides
- barbe de vieillardTillandsia usneoides
- fille de l'airTillandsia usneoides
German Spanisches Moos
- Spanisches MoosTillandsia usneoides
Icelandic trefjagras, spánskur mosi
- trefjagrasTillandsia usneoides
- spánskur mosiTillandsia usneoides
Portuguese barba-de-pau, barba-de-velho
- barba-de-pauTillandsia usneoides
- barba-de-velhoTillandsia usneoides
Swedish spansk mossa
- spansk mossaTillandsia usneoides
Cite this entry
Spanish moss. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Spanish%20moss
“Spanish moss.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Spanish%20moss. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Spanish moss,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Spanish%20moss.
Source: Spanish moss on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.