I was recently in the Copper River (Laka Iliamna region) area, and saw this flowering plant in several places growing out of a shale rock face at river's edge. Joe Marcus of the Lady Bird Wildflower center thinks it's a Dwarf Fireweed (Chamerion latifolium), but he's not too sure, and neither am I. The flower seems to lack the sepals that are so prominent in Fireweed, and the stem color and buds and leaves seem to be of a different shape. I'm attaching 3 pictures. The first two are of the mystery plant, and the third is a known Dwarf Fireweed group on a sandbar in the river.
Yes, the first two photos are Chamerion latifolium; the third photo is Chamerion angustifolium (look at the leaves - dwarf forms do occur, I have one of these in my front yard). In comparing photos of Chamerion latifolium from different areas, there seems to be much variation in petal and sepal width.
