Texas Gardening: Texas Native Plant Pictures by color ( Other & Bicolor ), 1 by htop

htop wrote:
Ball Moss (Tillandsia recurvata), Bromeliaceae Family, perennial, epiphyte, blooms (insignificant) all year

There are few plants that I hate, but this is one of them. Ball moss is an epiphyte that gets its nutrients from the atmosphere and does not rob the host plant of its nutrients. However, the fact that heavy infestations keep the sunlight from reaching the leaves, the leaves die and the branches that are covered die. The smaller branches break off constantly with the wind, rain (the moss becomes wet and heavy) and especially squirrels running and jumping on them. Many quite large branches have completely died by being smothered by the moss or because the limbs above are so heavily covered that the sunlight cannot reach the lower limbs.

For more information, see its PlantFiles entry:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/2061/index.html