Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 7 · column 3 of 6 · from the scan, no model involved
indexes of wildflower books on frostweed and dittany early the next day. I knew of dittany. Jocelyn Sladen had pointed out the small pink flowers of this late-summer blooming mint to me near Leesburg only a year before.
Descriptions of dittany had no mention of coils of ice in a number of references. Now for Frostweed. I learned that it has two kinds of flowers: small, insignificant ones and larger yellow blooms which "...fade early and fall gway.. (they) open only once in sunshine." That was intriguing .enough to make me impatient for summer whdn I could search for this plant. There was no mention of icy spirals in that book.
In Flora of West Virginia there was a lengthy, 'technical description followed by: "In cool weather of late autumn crystals of ice push out from the bark at the base, suggesting the common name."
Finally, after searching through five books I could draw together enough information to satisfy my curiosity about the curls of ice on the woods' floor. The plant draws water into its roots and up through the stem like the wick in an oil lamp. When the temperature plunges to well below freezing the plant must rid itself of water which, in a frozen state, can be injurious to its cells. As the water freezes it is extruded out of the stem through cracks. The coiled ribbons of ice in the woods of Sperryville are explained. The sweet taste 1 had detected came from the plant itself.
John Trott welcomes reader comment at P.O. Box 515, Flint Hill, Va. 22627.
94.4%