I usually think of asters as being fall-blooming flowers, but this one was blooming in Denali National Park in early July.
You have to look closely to find these small flowers blooming on the forest floor! The flowers grow on one side of the stem, giving them their common name. The plant is only 4 or 5 inches tall. They are in the Wintergreen Family. I found these blooming on the Kenai Peninsula.
This Skeleton Forest can be seen along Highway 1 near Portage. The dead trees have stood here since the 1964 Good Friday 9.2 magnitude earthquake. The land near the Turnagain Arm sunk causing salt water to inundate the forest. Because of the cold weather, decomposition of the trees has been very slow.
