I saw this green flower in Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska a few years ago but can not find any information about it. Anybody can provide me some information?
indeed no flower but a gall
see for example
http://botanyphoto.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/2009/06/salix_species_and_rhabdophaga_rosaria_1.php
and google "rosette willow gall midge"
regards,
Jan
Interesting thought. But this tree I found was in Alaska which is cold.
Do you have a close-up of what you think is a flower? At first sight, I am not sure it is a flower at all.
Please have a look at this link.
http://garden.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Cold_Hardy_Gardenia
Hi Gaston: The tree was out of the restricted walkway in the national park. Initially I thought they could not be flowers but then I found a few more on the same tree. Unfortunately I only carried my Blackberry Mobile and it was the best picture I could get. They do look like tea tree but the tree was much taller.
Hi Arvind: You may be right. I am not major in Botany. The flowers were just amazed me with such color and I could not find any information from Google. Unfortunately, or fortunately, the law prohibits me from picking up one for close-up observation.
Dear Teng,
Surely it is some hardy variety of Gardenia which belongs to Rubiaceae family of flowering plants.
Good luck
May it be some kind of gall ? I would favour a leafy gall of a Salix sp.
I thought at first the same as Marc Philippe. I was not sure about the structure depicted as a "flower". The leaves of the adjacent plant is visibly stipulate and it looks very much like a Salix. Anyway, I am not sure about the nature of the so-called flower shown on the picture. Salix is a very common genus in Alaska in natural habitats as a park.
The flowery structure and the adjacent leaf are all from the same tree for sure. It is about 3-meter tall tree that I am sure. The twigs of the tree do not look like the ones I saw from Google about Salix. I am very excited that information coming in so that I can learn.
I don't think it is Gardenia because they have opposite leaves, but your sample has alternate. It may not be a flower. Can you send a sample to a herbarium for identification? That's the best way to find out :-)
Hi Andrew: I definitely can not get a sample since I am not a botanist. It is the property of the national park and I really can not violate the law.
I am not sure if in fact this is a flower. Have you considered the possibility of a gall or some kind of theratological structure? I see no obvious androecium and gynoecium in your putative flower. The "green petals" do -in my opinion- look very similar to congested, anomalous leaves. Best,
Perhaps send a copy of the picture to a herbarium curator. You could try Ewen Cameron at The Auckland War Memorial Museum. You can contact him on this site and at [email protected] :-)
indeed no flower but a gall
see for example
http://botanyphoto.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/2009/06/salix_species_and_rhabdophaga_rosaria_1.php
and google "rosette willow gall midge"
regards,
Jan
Dear Teng,
The latest post by Jan has resolved the mystery. The green structure is not a flower rather it is an insect gall. So it may be some species of Salix. I really appreciate the effort of Jan.
Good luck.
It looks like it might be gall on Salix from a species of Rabdophaga - a cecidomyiid fly. These are common on willows.
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