Pedicularis spp.

Pedicularis oederi (I think, I can never keep the species of the genus Pedicularis spp.). This photo was taken by my undergrad Brian Moon this summer at Toolik. There are about seven species of Pedicularis where we work in Alaska, and 22 in western Canada, Eastern Siberia, and Alaska. They all bloom at different times and places on the tundra during the short summer; until one can see their flowers, they all look the same. Thus, we often can't tell them apart. When the time comes, the flowers appear in an array of colors with shapes congruent with their family: Schophulariaceae (the figworts). My advisor said "I never thought of looking at a Ped spp. from above". Such symmetry from a family of plants that is so asymmetric!!