Not giving up

I'm still trying to identify that woolly plant. I went back to Oyster Bay this afternoon with a lens and a dark green umbrella to take another look. The lens wasn't much help, but the umbrella got rid of the glare and I could see better.

I cast around until I found a couple of plants that had flowered. The flowers were long dead, but still held their shape.

Side view, and top view. The flower head is less than 1 cm tall.

Each flower head stands on its own stalk, taller than the leafy stems, but still under about 10 inches high. The individual flowers sit down in a little cup; I think they have 6 petals.

I wanted to get a better look at the shape of the leaves, too. The top ones are like little salad servers, half fork, half spoon, all covered with a white felt.

Woolly leaves

Lower down on the stem, the leaves have broken free from the felt, and opened up into a long, three-pronged arrangement.

One lower leaf, abut 1.5 cm long, just over 1/2 inch. The "buttons" seem to be tips of small teeth.

Several people have suggested one of the Artemisia, the wormwoods and mugworts; so far, I haven't been able to find one like this.

Afterwards, I walked around the park and the surrounding bush in the blistering sunlight, under my rainy-day umbrella, wondering why I hadn't thought of this long ago. And the camera was happy, too; an even light, no glare, truer colours. We brought home a nice batch of photos to process and share.

Still here.