So, what am I looking at? A little bit of everything, really. There are dozens of species of moss, lichen, fungus, mushroom, tillandsia The rotting wood tends to be inoculated with various kinds of mushrooms that you might notice fruiting from time to time. There are lichens, which tend to grow on the bark of trees. Similar to the "Spanish moss" that hands everywhere, the lichen gets moisture from the air, and has a symbitoic relationship with algae that live in their cells.

 

Mosses are ancient creatures. Some of the first life to leave the sea to colonize land more than 400mya. They cling to their chosen surface using rhizoids. These are hair-like structures that they use to "hang on" to wherever they call home. They aren't plants either, they're bryophytes. They were a part of the army of mosses, lichens, liverworts, hornworts, and fungi that helped convert the rough, barren rock into the fertile soil we know today. They are nicknamed the "amphibians of plants," which tells you everything you need to know about taking care of them. They love water, but have a special power for when there isn't much. 

So, they don't have veins. They don't have roots. How do they get what they need?