Puzzles

[Giles]

Brickmaking? (not house building)

[Oron Peri]

C. sinensis maybe

[Giles]

Indeed, Oron, a very well known foliage plant.   (my favourite   )
Brought to Russia overland as tea bricks on camels.

[Maggi Young]

Nice one, Giles and Oron.

C. sinensis =
Camellia sinensis
picture .....
Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen 1897

[Brian Ellis]

It is well known that I am a complete sucker for any nurserymans description which says "as rare as hens teeth' or 'no one will guess what this is' so here is one of the latter, it stands at about 75cm and is probably six years old.  Not exactly a show stopper but an interesting plant from South America

[TheOnionMan]

It is well known that I am a complete sucker for any nurserymans description which says "as rare as hens teeth' or 'no one will guess what this is' so here is one of the latter, it stands at about 75cm and is probably six years old.  Not exactly a show stopper but an interesting plant from South America

Is it a Baccharis?  Baccharis rhomboidalis or magellenica perhaps?

[Brian Ellis]

Indeed it is, well done Mark.  Grown from Plant world seed Baccharis 'Sea Foam':

Collected on our 1994 Chile Expedition (RB94142) and new to cultivation is this dwarf South American equivalent to a New Zealand olearia. A compact evergreen shrublet bearing neat, diminutive, toothed leathery leaves. In July countless small 'shaving-brush' flowers smother its dome, before they become 'snowballs', turning the entire plant white. No-one will guess what this is!

I bought it as I like olearia, but I have to say it is not a patch on them!

[Maggi Young]

Well done, McMark! It had me fooled.... not that that isn't fairly easy to do! 

What I know about any of the groundsels could be written on the head of a very small pin.

[Stephenb]

What I know about any of the groundsels could be written on the head of a very small pin.

Really, you are all knowing! It's amazing what they can write on the head of a very small pin these days :

http://www.internetwritingjournal.com/blog/1029081

[Maggi Young]

Really, you are all knowing! It's amazing what they can write on the head of a very small pin these days :

http://www.internetwritingjournal.com/blog/1029081

Truly remarkable.... but I was thinking of using one of these........

[Stephenb]

  A nano paint brush?

[TheOnionMan]

Indeed it is, well done Mark.  Grown from Plant world seed Baccharis 'Sea Foam':

Collected on our 1994 Chile Expedition (RB94142) and new to cultivation is this dwarf South American equivalent to a New Zealand olearia. A compact evergreen shrublet bearing neat, diminutive, toothed leathery leaves. In July countless small 'shaving-brush' flowers smother its dome, before they become 'snowballs', turning the entire plant white. No-one will guess what this is!

I bought it as I like olearia, but I have to say it is not a patch on them!

There are a number of North American Baccharis species (20 or more), so I am familiar with the general "look and feel" of these odd plants, seen them at some of the US botanic gardens, such as Berry Botanic Garden in Portland, Oregon, USA.  For a brief period of a couple years (decades ago) I grew a Baccharis.  I've looked up Baccharis 'Sea Foam' and can find the various offerings, but none that tell me what species it might me (or possibly if it's a hybrid), but I will stick with the two species I guessed with.
Baccharis rhomboidalis
http://www.chileflora.com/Florachilena/FloraEnglish/HighResPages/EH0582.htm
Baccharis magellanica
http://www.chileflora.com/Florachilena/FloraEnglish/HighResPages/EH0091.htm

Here's a rather fantastic one from Arizona and other Southwestern USA States from Texas to California, Baccharis sarothroides:
http://www.fireflyforest.com/flowers/232/baccharis-sarothroides-desertbroom/

[Maggi Young]

Wow! The Arizona one is a cracker! 

[Brian Ellis]

Yes I agree with you there Maggi, I'd rather have given that one house room!  Mark the B.magallenica is listed as 30cm tall, mine is well over that so more likely to be one of the others - I note that there are 55 in Chile!!

[TheOnionMan]

Yes I agree with you there Maggi, I'd rather have given that one house room!  Mark the B.magallenica is listed as 30cm tall, mine is well over that so more likely to be one of the others - I note that there are 55 in Chile!!

The following site lists a couple Baccharis magellanica cultivars, one is listed as 1 meter tall in 8 years.  Maybe because the species is reported as growing from sea level to high elevation, there are some larger lowland forms too:
http://www.members.tripod.com/~Hatch_L/bacchar.html

But you're right, there are so many S. American species, it could be most anything. The species B. rhomboidalis has foliage that looks much your your plant.  However, I did finally find some references to a Baccharis pilularis ‘Sea Foam’, page 6, right-hand column.
http://www.cistus.com/pdf/Archival%20Plant%20List%202006.pdf

B. pilularis is a species from Western USA, although I'm not sure if it also grows down in South America; I suppose it is possible.
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=BAPI

As an aside, it looks like B. magellanica makes a nice rock garden carpet, here's a listing from Siskiyou Rare Plant Nursery.
http://siskiyourareplantnursery.com/baccharismagellanicachristmasbush.aspx