Frost Flowers!

ADMINISTRATOR
Učlanjen(a)
11.10.2009
Poruka
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If you were walking through a clear ground during the winter, you might have noticed the dazzling white blooms and probably think that they were late blooming flowers. Hold on a minute; before you jump to conclusions, you might want to take a close up view of those beautiful blooms and then come to a startling realization that they aren’t flowers at all…


So What Were They? Frost Flowers!
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Frost flowers are commonly named for thin layers of ice covering long stemmed plants during the early winter or the autumn season. The beauty of this formation is that this thin layer of ice forms into an exquisite design and swirl themselves up into petals that looks exactly like a flower.

Frost flowers are also known as ice blossoms or ice castles. There are different types of the same including Frost pillars, rabbit ice, ice ribbons that cover plants stems. The formation of these structures totally depends upon the freezing weather condition, when the ground is not completely frozen. The formation usually happens when the roots and the plants stems are not deeply frozen and still have moisture within them. When the moisture is passed on to the top part of the stem, it freezes with the weather condition and creates a layer of ice that curls itself to form the shape of a petal.

Magical Winter flowers of Finland

If you happen to visit Finland and stroll by the Little Tahkon, you may stumble upon these rare yet extremely amazing sight; a full clear land filled with these gorgeous blooms. Also known as the Arctic ‘sea meadow’ they were first discovered in 2009 by a team of biologists, who accidentally came upon these gorgeous frozen sea of blooms while they were returning back from the North Pole.
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The sap from the stem of the plants expands when it is frozen, which creates thin cracks along the stem. Then water is drawn through these cracks and freezes when it comes to contact with air. As more and more water is drawn through these cracks, it pushes the ice away from the stem and finally forms the shape of a petal. In the case of tree branches, this water is squeezed from the pores of the plant which leads to long fine strings of ice that closely resembles hair curls.

Remember, the petals of these Frost flowers are extremely delicate and can break the moment you touch it. These flowers melt when exposed to sunlight and are typically visible during the early morning or in dark shady areas.

Forst flowers are spectacular scenic view for anyone who loves to enjoy the beauty of nature. Some examples of plants that typically form frost flowers are Frostweed also known as crownbeard, Helianthemum canadense and verbesina.
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When biologists tested the melted water from these Frost flowers, they discovered about 1 million bacteria in them. Biologists are yet to discover the role of these bacteria in Frost flowers. However, the mere sight of these spectacular beauties can truly enchant any visitor that visits Finland.

Although, there is not much information on the Internet about these stunning blooming beauties, their scenic view has been beautifully captured through photographs and posted on the Internet. These delicate Frost flowers have truly attracted many visitors to Finland and have made these a must-see for tourists who visit the land. As a matter of fact, Finland today attracts more than 6.1 million tourists, mostly from Russia and is today one of the topmost destination for scenic view. The place has more than 200,000 lakes, with Tampere being the biggest city on the Finnish Lakeland.
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