 While it rarely kills the tree upon which it grows, it can occasionally become so thick that it shades the tree's leaves and lowers its growth rate.In the southern U.S., the plant seems to show a preference for growth on southern live oak ("Quercus virginiana") and bald cypress ("Taxodium distichum") because of these trees' high rates of foliar mineral leaching (calcium, magnesium, potassium, and phosphorus) providing an abundant supply of nutrients to the plant, but it can also colonize other tree species such as sweetgum ("Liquidambar styraciflua"), crepe-myrtles ("Lagerstroemia" spp.