 In the United States from where it is most known, it is commonly found on the southern live oak ("Quercus virginiana") and bald-cypress ("Taxodium distichum") in the lowlands, swamps, and marshes of the mid-atlantic and southeastern United States from central Delaware to southeastern Virginia to Florida and west to Texas and southern Arkansas.Although Spanish moss is extremely rare in Delaware, you will find a few small patches of it there and on the rest of the Delmarva Peninsula.This plant's specific name "usneoides" means "resembling "Usnea"", and it indeed superficially resembles its namesake "Usnea", also known as beard lichen, but in fact Spanish moss is neither a moss nor a lichen, and it isn’t even from Spain.