Paul KnightlyI went hiking in the Ozarks on Saturday morning and stumbled on a small patch of frost flowers!
This is the first time I've seen them, and I was surprised to see them this late in the year. Frost flowers typically form during the first few hard freezes of fall when sap in certain small plants freezes, rupturing the stem and forcing water out. The water freezes on contact with the air and builds up into distinctive flower-shaped petals!
Inge