Frostweed Ice Curls
by Steven Schwartzman
Title
Frostweed Ice Curls
Artist
Steven Schwartzman
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
By the time of the first good overnight frost (i.e. freeze), almost all frostweed plants, Verbesina virginica, have gone to seed. Although each stalk stands there dried out and unappealing, the freeze can cause it to draw underground water up into its base. When that happens, the lower part of the stalk splits open and extrudes freezing water laterally, producing thin sheets of ice that curl out around the broken stalk. Here you see a pair of frostweed stalks, each with ice sheets scrolling in two directions.
Uploaded
December 12th, 2013
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Viewed 358 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 04/19/2024 at 7:08 AM
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Comments (4)
Debra Martz
Wow! So very fascinating! And thanks for the wonderful description of how this happens! Fantastic image!
Nina Silver
Wow! What an amazing phenomenon. National Geographic worthy. L
Steven Schwartzman replied:
You've made me wonder if National Geographic has ever featured this phenomenon.
Rahdne Zola
What a unique and intriguing subject and composition. Congratulations on such a stand-out.
Steven Schwartzman replied:
That's just how I feel about the phenomenon: unique and intriguing. I'm glad that some of these plants grow at the edge of the woods just half a mile from home, so when that first cold overnight hits us each fall, off I go the next morning to take pictures of the resulting ice curls.
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