Looks to me like a piece of a lichen. One possible genus is Alectoria, try looking that up. Usnea is another genus. It does not look like any of the terrestrial "reindeer lichens" in the genus Cladonia. Your lichen would normally grow draped over a tree branch. I suppose you could keep in alive on a branch in a terrarium. Problem is they don't do much of anything, they grow rather slowly, you almost can't tell if they are alive. They reproduce by fragmentation, mostly, or by spores, depending on species. The terrestrial species have a lot of interesting forms, make nice little " dish gardens" but it's impractical to propagate them.

Thank you for the info. It makes a cool addition to my indoor planters.

Looks like Spanish Moss Tillandsia usneoides to me.

http://web.fscj.edu/David.Byres/spanmoss/spanmoss.htm

http://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/cs_tius.pdf

http://www.rnr.lsu.edu/plantid/species/spanishmoss/spanishmoss.htm

Well, I briefly considered that. But if you look at the range maps on USDA you see that Spanish moss is not in Tennessee. And I see some fine filaments coming off the branches on this thing, that make me think it's a lichen. And the diameter of the branches is very uniform, more so than Tillandsia, not that I see Spanish moss every day in New Jersey. "Usneoides" of course means "resembles Usnea lichen" , so your Identification Is understandable.

Based on range maps and general configuration, I think the most likely I.d. Of this "plant" is Usnea mutabilis. You should be able to find pictures on the Internet.

That looks like it. Thank you.