Iceland Moss

Iceland moss is the common name of Cetraria islandica, an Arctic-alpine lichen whose upright, leaflike growth habit gives it the appearance of a moss despite being a lichen. It typically grows three to four inches tall with flattened, fringed, pale chestnut-brown lobes, and is abundant on lava slopes and mountains in Iceland and across Arctic North America from Alaska to Newfoundland. Traditionally gathered as food and boiled into breads and porridges during times of scarcity, it is used today mainly in folk remedies for coughs and other respiratory complaints.