On the Land: Star-tipped Reindeer Lichen and Labrador Tea

Nestled right beside the fuzzy leaves of Labrador Tea, Star-tipped Reindeer Lichen creates iconic ground cover across high latitudes.

👤 Art Borups Corners 🕒 Aug 16, 2026 💬 0 comments

A dense carpet of Star-tipped Reindeer Lichen (Cladonia stellaris), characterized by intricate, lace-like branching that radiates into 4- to 5-pointed star shapes at each node. Its pale, creamy-green color comes from usnic acid, which helps protect it from intense sunlight.

Forming soft, cauliflower-like domes across boreal forest floors and Arctic tundra, Star-tipped Reindeer Lichen grows at a slow rate of just a few millimeters per year. Despite its slow growth, these extensive mats provide critical carbohydrate-dense winter forage for migrating caribou herds.

Crisp, Lacy, and Essential: Life Beside the Star-Tipped Reindeer Lichen

If you look down while walking through the open woods, peat bogs, or tundra of the North, you’ll likely spot soft, pale cushions covering the ground like miniature sea coral or tiny heads of crisp cauliflower.

This is Star-tipped Reindeer Lichen (Cladonia stellaris). It’s not a moss or a single plant, but a marvel of teamwork—a partnership between fungi and algae working together to survive where most green things give up. Up close, its pale, creamy-green branches radiate out in distinct four- or five-pointed star patterns at every node, creating dense, dome-shaped mats that interlock across the soil.

Recognized by its deep green top and warm, fuzzy orange underside, Labrador Tea has been a cherished wild herbal brew for generations across Arctic and subarctic regions. Its small, pink-tinged terminal buds will soon burst into fragrant white flower clusters come early summer.

Labrador Tea: Northern Comfort in a Leaf

Growing right alongside these intricate cushions, you’ll almost always find another northern icon: Labrador Tea (Rhododendron groenlandicum). The contrast is striking. While Labrador Tea stands upright with dark, leathery green leaves wrapped in warm, orange wool underneath, Star-tipped Reindeer Lichen forms a pale, cool-toned carpet around its base. Together, they create a classic high-latitude landscape that is as resilient as it is beautiful.

This lichen doesn’t rush. It expands at a painstaking pace—often just a few millimeters a year. Yet, over decades, it forms massive mats that act as a protective climate regulator for the ground beneath. During dry spells, the lichen loses moisture and turns crisp and brittle, entering a state of suspended animation. The moment rain or fog rolls in, it absorbs moisture straight out of the air like a sponge, instantly becoming soft, rubbery, and vibrant once more.

For migrating caribou herds braving the dark, sub-zero winter months, these pale carpets are nothing short of a life-saver. Sweeping away the snow with their hooves, caribou dig up the nutrient-dense lichen mats, relying on their high carbohydrate content to generate body heat and survive the winter.

Whether providing critical winter fuel for caribou or forming a crisp, lacey backdrop for neighboring Labrador Tea bushes, Star-tipped Reindeer Lichen is a true anchor of northern wilderness. It’s a quiet reminder that even in the toughest environments, beauty and endurance go hand in hand.

Article Contributor

Art Borups Corners

Art Borup’s Corners is a northern arts incubator based in Melgund Township, Northwestern Ontario, where community-led creativity, land-based practice, and digital innovation come together. Rooted in the cultural rhythms of the boreal forest and shaped by years of grassroots organizing across Ontario, Manitoba, Nunavut, and Minnesota, Borup’s Corners supports artists, youth, and community members through participatory storytelling, climate-focused projects, and creative entrepreneurship. From wild blueberry walks to immersive exhibitions and applied AI research, our seasonal programs and artist residencies foster connection, skill-building, and self-determined expression—all grounded in place, culture, and care.

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