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Rhododendron groenlandicum
Also called Rusty Labrador-Tea, Labrador Tea, Bog Labrador Tea, Greenland Labrador Tea
Common Labrador tea is a low evergreen shrub of cold, boggy northern wetlands, known for its fragrant leaves used to make tea. It is a species, Rhododendron groenlandicum, and it is grown mainly as a hardy, moisture-loving ornamental.
Rhododendron groenlandicum (formerly Ledum groenlandicum or Ledum latifolium), known by the common names bog Labrador tea, muskeg tea, swamp tea, in northern Canada, Hudson's Bay tea, and in Greenlandic, Qajaasaq (IPA: [qajaːsɑq], resembling a Kayak), is a species of flowering shrub in the family Ericaceae. Found in northern parts of North America and Greenland, R. groenlandicum grows primarily in bogs and other wetlands, which tend to be also in cold, acidic, and nutrient-poor environments. It has traditionally been used to make medicinal herbal teas among the Dene, Athabaskan, and Inuit, and other indigenous cultures of North America peoples.
The plant contains toxic alkaloids which are poisonous to livestock and may be toxic to humans in concentrated doses.
It is reported from Greenland, as well as from every province and territory in Canada and in the northern United States including the Northeast (New England, New York, Pennsylvania), the Northwest (Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Alaska), and parts of the Upper Midwest (Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota). It grows in bogs, muskegs, and open tundra, as well as occasionally on wet shores and rocky alpine slopes.
The leaves are regularly used to make beverages and medicines—most commonly a fragrant tea—by many Native American tribes such as the Quinault and Makah, the Potawatomi, the Anishinaabe, the Iroquois, and First Nations tribes in Canada. Antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anticancer activity has been found. When European explorers arrived, they soon adopted these uses as well, dubbing it "Indian plant tea". During the American Revolutionary War, it was used as a substitute for tea. It was used as ale flavoring in Europe prior to hops becoming the main flavoring and preservative ingredient.
Rhododendron album · Rhododendron anthopogon · Rhododendron argyrophyllum · Rhododendron augustinii · Rhododendron bureavii · Rhododendron calophytum · Rhododendron calostrotum · Bell Flowered Rhododendron · Bent-style rhododendron · Rhodora · Catawba rosebay · Georgian Snow Rose
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Rhododendron groenlandicum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
Pet safety from the ASPCA toxic and non-toxic plant lists.
