The picture of this plant was taken July 10, 2007, along the Colville River, North Slope, Alaska. I initially thought it was Bog Rosemary, but the flowers are not bent over, the flower base is wrong and the plant structure just does not look right. I am at a loss as to where to go from here. Any help will be appreciated. Dickie Byrd
It's a labrador tea, possibly Ledum groenlandicum, or L. palustre. I'll try to figure out which. Also, I think L. groenlandicum has been renamed (to Rhododendron), or have all of them?
Thank you abgardeneer. I bypassed the Labrador Tea because all pictures and plants I have seen the leaves drooped downward and were brown on the underside. We have two of them up here, Ledum groenlandicum and Ledum palustre. The L. groenlandicum has wider leaves than the plant I have pictures of. I dd find a picture of an older L. palustre that looked very similar to mine and I am going to go with that ID. BTW - Both have been renamed. L. palustre is now Rhododendron tomentosum and L. groenlandicum is Rhododendron groenlandicum. (From Wikipedia and other WEB Sites.) Dickie
Yes, both occur in Alaska (as well as here) - that's why I suggested them ;) If you see them in bloom, R. groenlandicum has "mostly" 5-7 stamens, while R. tomentosum has "mostly" 8-11 stamens (Moss, Packer, Flora of Alberta).
