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Photo: Susan Belsinger
Though quite brisk, visiting here in the Ozarks in the cold winter has its perks. Besides the cold fresh air and sunshine, the beauty of the mountain landscape is always breathtaking, however this time of year, Ozarkians are celebrating the natural phenomena of frost flowers.
Having neve seen a frost flower except in photos, when I recently spied them while riding down an Arkansas highway, I requested with urgency and excitement for my driver and fellow herborizing cohort, Tina Marie Wilcox, to pull over! Then I spent a good deal of time inspecting, photographing and feeling these amazing frozen creations of nature.
“Crystallofolia” is a relatively new term for these botanical ice formations, so named by Bob Harms of the Plant Resource Center, University of Texas, Austin, who has studied frost flowers for many years. (For more info read Steven Foster’s article on http://eureka.news/the-nature-of-eureka-happy-crystallofolia-season/) There are two plants native to this region which…