PsyWarOps's video: Frost Flowers

We found these Frost Flowers while trout fishing on the Current River at Montauk, in the Missouri Ozark Hills. Another name for this phenomenon is Hoar Frost. The flowers occur when there is a freezing weather condition but the ground is not already frozen. The water contained in the plant stem expands and causes long cracks along the stem. Water, via capillary action, goes out from the cracks and freezes on contact with the air. Also the frost can literally look like a flower, even a dead flower from the previous summer. These are rare and wonderful to see as they are very delicate and last usually until the sun rises later in the morning. I tasted some of the flowers. The petals are light and airy and melted quickly on my tongue. I didn't get the sensation in my mouth that I had eaten anything.