# Cladonia rangiferina
**Cladonia rangiferina** (L.) F.H. Wigg. (1780) is a large, pale gray, richly branched fruticose (shrub-like, bushy lichen growth form) lichen known as the classic reindeer lichen or reindeer moss, one of the mat-forming ground lichens that dominate heath and tundra vegetation across northern regions and form a major part of the winter diet of reindeer and caribou. It was formerly placed in the segregate genus *Cladina* as *Cladina rangiferina*, a placement now reduced to synonymy.[1](https://britishlichensociety.org.uk/resources/species-accounts/cladonia-rangiferina) • [2](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.122422/Cladonia_rangiferina)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Scientific name | *Cladonia rangiferina* (L.) F.H. Wigg. (1780); synonym *Cladina rangiferina*; BLS Number 411[1](https://britishlichensociety.org.uk/resources/species-accounts/cladonia-rangiferina) |
| Growth form | Large bulky lichen with recurved branches; podetia 4–10 cm tall, gray-white, often brown toward the apices with a purple or bluish gray tinge[1](https://britishlichensociety.org.uk/resources/species-accounts/cladonia-rangiferina) |
| Branching | Predominantly tetrachotomous (in fours), more rarely trichotomous at the apices; terminal branches recurved and distinctly orientated in one direction[1](https://britishlichensociety.org.uk/resources/species-accounts/cladonia-rangiferina) |
| Chemistry | Thallus C–, K+ yellow, KC–, Pd+ red, UV–; contains fumarprotocetraric acid and atranorin[1](https://britishlichensociety.org.uk/resources/species-accounts/cladonia-rangiferina) |
| Habitat | Locally dominant in montane heaths; also moorland, dunes, acid woodlands, and shallow humus on rock[1](https://britishlichensociety.org.uk/resources/species-accounts/cladonia-rangiferina) |
| Ecological role | Ground lichens of this group form a vital part of the reindeer winter diet; *C. rangiferina* is among the four most important species in lichen biomass estimation[3](https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/rangifer/article/view/172) |
| Conservation | Listed LC in Britain overall, but rare and apparently declining south of the Highlands; Near Threatened in Wales[1](https://britishlichensociety.org.uk/resources/species-accounts/cladonia-rangiferina) |
## Description and identification
The primary thallus is crustose and evanescent, so the visible plant consists almost entirely of podetia, the upright branched stalks characteristic of the genus *Cladonia*. In this species the podetia stand 4–10 cm tall and are gray-white, with the upper part often brown and tinged purple or bluish gray toward the apices while remaining pale gray toward the base. The surface is uniformly decorticate and finely cottony-arachnoid, a cobwebby felt visible with a ×20 lens. Branching is predominantly tetrachotomous, more rarely trichotomous at the apices, and the young apices are blunt. Apothecia, the spore-producing discs, are brown, inconspicuous, and rare; pycnidia contain colorless jelly.[1](https://britishlichensociety.org.uk/resources/species-accounts/cladonia-rangiferina)
Two field characters are especially useful. The first is the thin, cottony webbing that surrounds the stems, which gives the species its felted look. The second is the one-directional orientation of the branch tips, which appear combed over together and cluster into three or four end-points.[4](http://www.habitas.org.uk/lichenireland/species.asp?item=18400) The Alaska field guide adds that the species can be separated from some other heavily branched *Cladonia* by having a long main axil from which the smaller branches develop, and that it is more gray than green except when well shaded or hydrated.[5](https://lichens.akveg.org/pages/taxa/cladoniaceae/clado_rangi/)
## Chemistry and spot tests
Standard chemical spot tests give C–, K+ yellow, KC–, Pd+ red, and UV–, reflecting the presence of fumarprotocetraric acid and atranorin.[1](https://britishlichensociety.org.uk/resources/species-accounts/cladonia-rangiferina) The K+ yellow reaction from atranorin is the practical discriminator from *[Cladonia arbuscula](https://www.edgepedia.org/cladonia-arbuscula)*, which is K negative.[4](http://www.habitas.org.uk/lichenireland/species.asp?item=18400) The K test also separates it in the field from *C. arbuscula* and many populations of *C. ciliata*, which are yellowish green because they contain usnic acid, a compound *C. rangiferina* lacks.[1](https://britishlichensociety.org.uk/resources/species-accounts/cladonia-rangiferina)
The chemistry responds to light. In controlled growth-chamber experiments, UV-B radiation induced the synthesis of usnic acid in *C. arbuscula* and *C. stellaris*, but in *C. rangiferina* it induced melanic pigments instead.[6](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/lichenologist/article/abs/uvb-induces-usnic-acid-in-reindeer-lichens/5F3EB35F6AF7D376CCAB5EF9A9337B55)
## Habitat and distribution
The species is a northern reindeer moss, locally dominant in montane heaths, both in exposed windblown Heather heaths and in [Bilberry](https://www.edgepedia.org/bilberry) heath under moderate-duration snow patches. Lower down it grows in moorlands, dunes, acid woodlands, especially pinewoods, and in pockets of soil on cliff ledges and rock outcrops from montane to coastal areas.[1](https://britishlichensociety.org.uk/resources/species-accounts/cladonia-rangiferina) In Ireland it is scattered across upland ground except in the south, on exposed high lichen heath or cliff edges.[4](http://www.habitas.org.uk/lichenireland/species.asp?item=18400) [In Alaska](https://www.edgepedia.org/in-alaska) it is described as a ubiquitous species across forests, alpine zones, and tundras.[5](https://lichens.akveg.org/pages/taxa/cladoniaceae/clado_rangi/) NatureServe, citing Thomson (1984), records it as one of the most common lichen species in bogs and on tundra in the American Arctic.[2](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.122422/Cladonia_rangiferina)
In Britain and Ireland it occurs in northern England, northern Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, and is rare and apparently declining south of the Highlands, very rare in lowland England.[1](https://britishlichensociety.org.uk/resources/species-accounts/cladonia-rangiferina) A Hungarian study of protected reindeer lichens found that *C. rangiferina* had the narrowest ecological tolerance of the three species examined, occurring in the most closed-canopy habitats, while *C. mitis* occupied the most open ones and *C. arbuscula* intermediate canopy closure.[7](https://bakonymuzeum.nhmus.hu/sites/default/files/nhmusfiles/kiadvanyok/BTK/BTK_35_honlapra.pdf)
## Ecology and growth
**Reindeer forage.** Ground lichens of this group constitute a vital part of the reindeer winter diet, and non-destructive estimation of lichen biomass is used to manage lichen resources. A study by Jon Moen of Umeå University, Öje Danell, and Roger Holt compared methods of estimating biomass from ground cover and thallus heights for the four most important species, *Cladonia arbuscula*, *C. rangiferina*, *C. stellaris*, and *Cetraria islandica*, validating them against actual biomass in 50 cm × 50 cm plots. Average thallus height within a plot explained variation in biomass as well as volume-based estimates did.[3](https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/rangifer/article/view/172)
**Growth and genetics.** A University of Manitoba study comparing ascospore colonies of *C. rangiferina* and *C. arbuscula* using RAPD-PCR found that *C. rangiferina* showed higher colony growth rates, while growth varied more between apothecia in *C. arbuscula*. Both species showed genetic variation within and among apothecia consistent with heterothallism (reproduction needing two different mating types) and recombination, and the authors hypothesized that the higher genetic variation in *C. arbuscula* may give it an adaptive advantage over *C. rangiferina*.[8](https://mspace.lib.umanitoba.ca/bitstream/handle/1993/30311/Athukorala_Sarangi_19thMarch.pdf)
**Remote sensing.** Because these lichens can cover large areas of boreal ground, their spectral signatures have been studied for mapping. On dry samples, the reflectance ratio R400nm/R1670nm can separate *C. rangiferina* and two *Stereocaulon* species from other studied boreal lichens, though the similar spectral shapes mean *C. rangiferina* is distinguished from *Stereocaulon* mainly by its higher reflectance; these indices apply only to dry lichens.[9](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7371186/)
## Similar species
*Cladonia rangiferina* resembles *C. arbuscula* but differs in its pale ash-gray and brown colors, its more visible felted cortex surface, and its K+ yellow spot test.[1](https://britishlichensociety.org.uk/resources/species-accounts/cladonia-rangiferina) *Cladonia ciliata* differs in having a roughened rather than cottony surface, thinner branches, dichotomous branching, and pycnidia containing red jelly.[1](https://britishlichensociety.org.uk/resources/species-accounts/cladonia-rangiferina) The closely related *C. stygia* is very similar but has a notably blackened surface toward the base with stark, scattered white areoles, is browner toward the branch tips, and has red pycnidial jelly; the British Lichen Society notes it may have been overlooked within larger *C. rangiferina* populations in the past.[1](https://britishlichensociety.org.uk/resources/species-accounts/cladonia-rangiferina) In Alaska, deceptive specimens of *C. stygia* may be blackened only on the interior toward the very base, and such specimens often show perforations nearer the branch tips that are typically absent in *C. rangiferina*; *C. portentosa* is similar but its branch tips are not combed over together.[5](https://lichens.akveg.org/pages/taxa/cladoniaceae/clado_rangi/)
## Threats and status
The species carries a conservation status of LC (Least Concern) in the British assessment, but it has undergone a long-term decline south of the Highlands through habitat loss, with over-intensive management of montane heaths an ongoing threat; it is treated as Near Threatened in Wales.[1](https://britishlichensociety.org.uk/resources/species-accounts/cladonia-rangiferina) A lichenicolous fungus, *Cryptodiscus cladoniicola*, is recorded on the species.[1](https://britishlichensociety.org.uk/resources/species-accounts/cladonia-rangiferina)
## References
1. [Cladonia rangiferina, The British Lichen Society](https://britishlichensociety.org.uk/resources/species-accounts/cladonia-rangiferina)
2. [Cladonia rangiferina, NatureServe Explorer](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.122422/Cladonia_rangiferina)
3. [Moen, J., Danell, Ö. & Holt, R. Non-destructive estimation of lichen biomass, Rangifer](https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/rangifer/article/view/172)
4. [Cladonia rangiferina (L.) F.H.Wigg., LichenIreland](http://www.habitas.org.uk/lichenireland/species.asp?item=18400)
5. [Cladonia rangiferina, Macrolichens of Alaska](https://lichens.akveg.org/pages/taxa/cladoniaceae/clado_rangi/)
6. [UV-B induces usnic acid in reindeer lichens, The Lichenologist](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/lichenologist/article/abs/uvb-induces-usnic-acid-in-reindeer-lichens/5F3EB35F6AF7D376CCAB5EF9A9337B55)
7. [Protected lichen species and their habitats in Hungary, Bakony Museum](https://bakonymuzeum.nhmus.hu/sites/default/files/nhmusfiles/kiadvanyok/BTK/BTK_35_honlapra.pdf)
8. [Athukorala, S. Studies on the variability in reindeer lichens, University of Manitoba thesis](https://mspace.lib.umanitoba.ca/bitstream/handle/1993/30311/Athukorala_Sarangi_19thMarch.pdf)
9. [A spectral analysis of common boreal ground lichen species, PMC](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7371186/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Life and health › Microorganisms and fungi › Fungi and mycology › Ascomycete taxa › Lichen-forming ascomycete taxa › Cladonia and Cladoniaceae › Reindeer lichens (Cladonia subgenus Cladina species)*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license