Can anyone identify this plant? Location: Unga Island just south of Alaska Peninsula. Characteristics: I think it is a sedum, but am surprised by the daisy-like flowers. It is a succulent. Brown at bottom of stem, as if regrown from old stalk, but not woody. The leaves remind me of a plant called Stonecrop which I saw in the Blue Ridge mountains, that's why it might be a secum and when I first saw it three weeks ago it had not flowered. I've been walking the beaches for quite a few years and this is the first time I've seen this plant. I'm adding a second plant that is new to me, as well. It has no woody parts, so it isn't Lapland Rosebay or an azalea.
This could be arctic daisy (Leucanthemum arcticum). It is for sure a sunflower family plant, not a sedum!
I don't believe it's an Arctic Daisy, they have true daisy-like foliage, not succulent looking. I'm not sure what you have there.
Does Erigeron occur in the area? Also the reason this is not a sedum is that if you look at a sedum flower it has just one set of sepals, petals, stamens, and a pistil but if you look at this particular flower there are a bunch of little miniflowers (called florets) on this flat structure called a disk often each little flower with a little bract at the base of it. Not only that but the little flowers in the center of the large "flower" has two different kinds of florets: the central ones and the "ray" ones. this is why it is called a compositae or sunflower family though sunflowers are only one of a host of different genera! You may want to google "structure of a flower" to learn more or other similar search terms.
I ran across the Alaska Native Plant Society website and contacted Mr. David Murray for help in IDing this plant. His id is that the plant is Arctanthemum arcticum subsp. arcticum Here is a link to the ANPS site: http://aknps.org/ Here is an image link: http://www.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de/~db26/Fotos-Knoch/Arctanthemum arcticum Groenlandmargerite 1.jpg But it may be another species?
Arctanthemum arcticum (L.) Tzvelev (see e. g. http://web.kadel.cz/flora/c/kvCard.asp-Id=441.htm ) and Leucanthemum arcticum (L.) A. DC. (see e. g. http://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/Atlas/Atlas.aspx?sciname=Leucanthemum arcticum ) seem to be the same species, arctic daisy, a plant originally named Chrysanthemum arcticum by Linné.
Wow, the leaves look right, but the flowers on Unga look stressed or stunted. I noticed that for new flowers they looked wilted. I wonder if the sea salt is affecting them. Patrushki or Scots Lovage were growing within a few feet. Thanks, I'd forgotten how much I loved learning about plants.
