Bunchberry
Denali National Park
Also known as Dwarf Dogwood, bunchberry is one of the signature wildflower of Alaska's boreal forests and tundra margins, featuring leaves and flowers almost identical to eastern dogwoods, except only an inch or two off the ground! Bunchberry has one of the fastest flowering mechanisms known, with flower petals springing open so rapidly that they launch pollen into the air in less than a millisecond. Photo © copyright by Ed Fuhr.