1. An erect greyish branching lichen of Arctic and even some north temperate regions constituting the chief food for reindeer and caribou and sometimes being eaten by humans
   "The arctic moss covered the tundra like a carpet";
   - reindeer moss, reindeer lichen, Cladonia rangiferina

Derived forms: arctic mosses

Type of: lichen

Part of: Cladonia, genus Cladonia

Encyclopedia: Arctic moss