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Low toxicity💊 Medicinal

⚠️ Labrador Tea

Rhododendron groenlandicum · Ericaceae

🌲 Boreal🍁 North America
🧠 To remember it“Rusty fuzz below, one cup and no more” — the dosage, not just the presence of the plant, determines the danger.
Labrador Tea — Rhododendron groenlandicum

🔍 Identify it without mistakes

Low evergreen shrub, 30 to 100 cm tall, with alternate, leathery leaves rolled down at the edges. The underside of the leaves is covered with a very characteristic thick, rusty-orange woolly fuzz (unlike the shiny dark green upper side). White flowers grow in tight terminal clusters. The entire plant releases a strong aromatic, resinous smell when crushed.

  1. underside of leaves covered in dense rusty-orange woolly fuzz
  2. leathery evergreen leaves with rolled-down edges
  3. strong resinous scent when crushed
  4. grows in boreal bogs and acidic heathlands
Size30-100 cm
FloweringJune-July
Habitatbogs, wet heathlands, and open coniferous woodlands throughout the North American boreal zone, from Greenland to Alaska

⚠️ Not to be confused with

Rhododendron tomentosum (marsh Labrador tea) (Rhododendron tomentosum)more toxic, avoid even more strictly

To tell them apart: visually very similar, but the woolly fuzz is less uniformly rusty; for safety, treat any plant of this type with the same caution as Labrador tea

💊 Healing with it

used as an infusion by North American Indigenous peoples (Cree, Dene, Athabaskans, Inuit) for colds, sore throats, digestive issues, and fatigue

Level of evidence : traditional use — Adipogenic Activity of Wild Populations of Rhododendron groenlandicum — PMC (James Bay Cree traditional pharmacopeia)

⚠️ contains low doses of ledol and grayanotoxins: never consume more than one cup per day, avoid prolonged use, not recommended during pregnancy; do not confuse with marsh Labrador tea (Rhododendron tomentosum), which is more toxic

🪓 Other bushcraft uses

  • leaves traditionally used to flavor meat in decoctions (minor culinary use today)
Sources (2)

No entry replaces a certain identification in the field, or medical advice. When in doubt: don't eat it. If ingestion is suspected: poison control or 112/911.