Blossoms of ice: these delicate "flowers" sprout only in winter, but you won't find them catalogued in any herbal.(Excerpt)

Publication: Natural History

Publication Date: 01-FEB-04

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COPYRIGHT 2004 Natural History Magazine, Inc.

Scientific discoveries don't always burst into bloom overnight, accompanied by shouts of "eureka!" Some take years to crystallize in one's slumbering consciousness, before they finally flower. Passing through a rich hardwood bottomland one cold winter's morning in 1976, I noticed white reflections from icy formations on the forest floor, but my quest was for an eastern diamondback rattlesnake that I was radio-tracking, and so I paid them no further mind. A couple of winters later, when I chanced to see them again, their unique shape--like a taffy of ice, pulled into swirling loops and bows--seemed worth a photograph or two. By the time I returned with a camera, though,...

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