Three of my books tell me that flowers with this structure are Capitate Lousewort. I have always seen them yellow, but the books say they can be cream colored. I do not see this one as cream colored, I see it as very white. I found the flower along the Colville River north of the Brooks Range in Alaska.
I'm not commenting on the ID at present, but in Packer's revision of Moss' Flora of Alberta, Pedicularis capitata is said to have "corolla white, often somewhat tinged with rose or purple at tip". The key to native louseworts, in the same source, says for P. capitata, "flowers white or cream". So, if your ID is correct, white flowers would seem to be normal. (Note: There appears to be a couple other lousewort species, native to both Alberta and Alaska, that have yellow flowers.)
Thank you ab. I think you have verified the white version for me. I will do a bit more checking on the Internet and will let you if I find something different. I have 6 very old books and none of them said anything about this flower being white. This is also the first one I have seen that was not yellow. The yellow P. capitata up here is almost like a weed on the alpine summits. The Yellow Lousewort and the Oeder's Lousewort. Dickie
