Remembering ice flowers

PHOTO BY PATRICK COIN . Ice flowers form at the base of only a few plants.
By Ken Moore
Flora Columnist
Thankfully, that near-100 degree first day of fall has been followed by needed rain and cooler temperatures. I’m relishing thinking of those dreadful freezing mornings in January. For folks crazy enough to be out walking just as the sun is beginning to rise on frigid winter mornings, you may spy the rather common, but rarely seen, ice flowers (described in Flora, 1/14/10).
Some of you may recollect that you have to be out before the sun has been up long enough to melt the flowers. Mysteriously found at the base of only a few species of plants, they are apparently formed from freezing moisture inside, splitting the stems and forming ribbons of ice at the stem base.
Wild oregano, Cunila origanoides, (Flora, 8/14/09) is one plant that hosts ice flowers. This smallish, somewhat woody native perennial is fairly common low on the ground beneath canopies of upland oak forests. You can find it scattered along the upper trails of UNC’s Carolina North and on the upper trails of the N.C. Botanical Garden. The easiest place to find it, with an identification label, is in the garden’s plant-families display. That’s where I viewed my first ice flowers last January.
A much commoner host plant is wingstem, or crownbeard, Verbesina occidentalis. It is another of those fall composites, members of the aster plant family. You may observe it standing six or more feet tall in large patches or entire fields along roadsides now.
The flower heads of wingstem have only a few ray flowers emerging erratically here and there among multiple disc or tubular flowers. (see photo) The result is that fields of wingstem are not as showy as fields of some of the other composites, such as bur-marigolds or goldenrods. Some folks taking a closer look describe the flower heads as messy; others find them rather engaging.
A noticeable characteristic of wingstem is the nature of its stem, which is lined with four winged edges (thus the common name), making the stem appear to be square (see photo).
A few years ago, some wingstems volunteered along the edge of my front steps. I’m hoping to have my very own ice flowers at the base of my plant stems during some frigid January mornings this coming winter. I will be very grateful that I won’t have to walk very far in hopes of seeing them.
To improve your chances of seeing ice flowers this winter, get out soon and locate a couple of populations of wingstem. Come next January, you’ll know where to take your early-morning walks for a chance to catch ice flowers before they melt. Good luck.
Email Ken Moore at flora@carrborocitizen.com.

PHOTO BY KEN MOORE. Ray flowers of wingstem are erratically scattered among the disc flowers.

PHOTO BY KEN MOORE. Wingstem gets its name from the “wings†along the edges of the stem.
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