Ice Flowers: Frozen Phenomenon (Pic Heavy)

[ozarkhellbender]

I was walking along the dirt road I live on today, and I saw what I thought were scraps of paper all along the ditch. Upon closer inspection, I realized they were "ice flower", also know as "frost flowers". Ice flowers are a phenomenon that occurs when water inside plant stems freezes and expands, bursting through the stems' wall, creating long ribbons of ice shooting out in all directions.

 

[ozarkhellbender]

Here is group number 2 of images.

 

[ozarkhellbender]

And here is set number 3.

 

[Amy82]

Wow these are amazing!

 

[ozarkhellbender]

The 4th and final set.

 

[Molch]

awesome! Y' know, although I live in the land of Ice, I've never seen those. Must be something about the way things freeze down there that is different from here. Or, more likely, Alaskan plants are just more frost-adapted and don't get exploding stems

 

[kay]

These pictures are really beautiful, thank you so much for sharing!

 

[Bellabelloo]

Amazing

 

[Opacum]

Nature sure is without peer. You can find majesty in the smallest places... Beautiful photos, Thomas. Thanks for sharing them!