Bryoria nitidula

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ALSO CALLED: [“Tundra horsehair lichen”; syn. Alectoria nitidula]

FOLK NAMES: Tingaujaq [name also applied to Alectoria ochroleuca, Alectoria nigricans, and Bryocaulon divergens] (Barrens-Keewatin, Baffin Island, Ungava-Labrador, and Greenland Inuit); Tingaujaq [name probably also applied to other “dry black moss”, Alectoria nigricans and Bryocaulon divergens] (North Slope Inuit)

USES:   Animal feed (Barrens-Keewatin, Baffin Island, Ungava-Labrador, and Greenland Inuit), Tinder (North Slope Inuit)

Bryoria nitidula, Alectoria ochroleuca, Alectoria nigricans, and Bryocaulon divergens, were called Tingaujaq by the Barrens-Keewatin, Baffin Island, Ungava-Labrador, and Greenland Inuit of the North American arctic (Wilson, 1979). These lichens were known to be the favorite food of young caribou, and children would use them to lure in fawns so that they could touch them (Wilson, 1979). The North Slope Inuit from the north coast of Alaska call a “dry black moss” (probably Bryoria nitidula, Alectoria nigricans, and/or Bryocaulon divergens) by the same name, and they used it as tinder (Wilson, 1979).

Bryoria nitidula contains fumarprotocetraric acid (Brodo and Hawksworth 1977).