I found a plant over the winter that I believe belongs to the feldmark community of Tierra del Fuego (extreme southern South America). As it is dwarfed and not in flower I have been unable to ID it. I have checked the more common guides to Tierra del Fuego (and the Falkland Islands) and have looked through David Moore's 1983 Flora of Tierra del Fuego. No luck. Can somebody suggest who I email about this plant. I have not had much luck with finding an expert. David Moore is retired. Does anybody have his current address? Is there another expert you know of? Michael
Can you post a picture of the plant here? I'm not an expert, but I do live in South America and have a number of plant books for both the North and South. Maybe I can help, or at least point you in the right direction.
I need to resize the photos and then I can post. One idea to start you thinking is the plant has almost a wooly coat, spider web like covering of hairs. Michael
You can post jpg photos here up to 7.8 megabytes size. The larger the pics, the better for identification, so don't resize them unless they're absolutely gigantic!
Ok, those could be one of the higher-altitude Sedums, or they could be the shoots of Frailejones (Espeletia spp). I'll have a boo through my Paramo and Altiplano books to see if I can narrow it down, but it strikes me that those aren't mature plants, but rather shoots.
Lorax, I think that you are correct about the plants not being mature. I will let you guys in on the big piece of info. This plant I found on Deception Island in Antarctica. Nearby I also found Nassauvia maggellanica. As they are likely seeds dropped from a tourist I came to the conclusion that the tree under consideration is assocatiated with the Nassauvia and as such likely originated in the feldmark communities ar Tierra del Fuego National Park, Ushuaia, Argentina. This plant represents the fifth known vascular plant for Antarctica. Michael
