What can we see on a frosty morning?

Winter is an invitation to observe the finer details of the natural world. In temperate regions the vibrant colours of the spring, summer and autumn have faded away leaving a barer landscape. I love going out on the crisp,cold mornings when the sky is blue and the frost highlights parts of the plants I don’t often notice. Here are three examples from a recent frosty morning walk.

Firstly, I notice the veins of this Comfrey leaf which are clearly outlined by the white ice crystals. Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) also known as boneset or knitbone, can easily stand sub-zero temperatures. Applied externally, it has anti-inflammatory properties, and, as its common name suggests, is used to heal wounds[1]. You can simply pick a few leaves, rub them together to remove hairs, and then wrap them around the wound applying a little pressure. Not only does this plant have useful medicinal properties, it will also attract pollinators to your garden and, due to its deep taproot, is highly rich in nutrients. As the leaves decompose they release nitrogen and potassium making it a good fertilizer.

Then I come across a biennal plant, Mullein (Verbascum thapsus). Biennal means that the plant has a two-year life cycle. In the first year of its life, it grows a large rosette of leaves which will provide it with resources to survive the first winter. In the second year, it flowers and, despite the subzero morning temperatures, the final few flowers on this long stem continue to bloom in December. These flowers can be used in infusions to treat respiratory infections[2]. However, as we can see from the photo the petals and reproductive organs are protected by very small hairs, so the infusion has to be well-strained before drinking.

The third plant I observe, Taraxacum officinale, takes me back in time. When I was a child we had fun « telling the time » by blowing dandelion seeds (carried by a parachute known as a pappus) off the seed head into the wind. Each blow corresponded to an hour on the clock  (« One o’clock… two o’clock... ») and we stopped once we’d blown off all of the seeds. This ingenous way of dispersing the seeds may be one of the reasons behind the dandelion's widespread propagation. On this particular dandelion, each « pappus » seems a little heavy with frost to transport the seeds very far. However, the ice accentuates the delicate design of the « blowball » contrasting the brown seeds with the white glistening bristles. Biomimicry is the study and reproduction of complex systems in nature in order to solve human problems. Not only does the Dandelion pappus present a fascinating case study for the transportation of an object through air, it also has the remarkable ability to retain approximately 100 times its weight in water [3].

I invite you to go out and discover the beauty of plants in the frost and share your experiences and photos in the comments section. Wrap up warm!

To find out about another plant to help relieve respiratory infections, see "Thyme Leaf Infusion".

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[1] Mahmoudzadeh E, Nazemiyeh H, Hamedeyazdan S. Anti-inflammatory Properties of the Genus Symphytum L.: A Review. Iran J Pharm Res. 2022 Apr 5;21(1):e123949.

[2] Arzu Ucar Turker, N.D Camper, Biological activity of common mullein, a medicinal plant, Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Volume 82, Issues 2–3, 2002, Pages 117-125, ISSN 0378-8741.

[3] Meng, Q., Wang, Q., Liu, H. et al. A bio-inspired flexible fiber array with an open radial geometry for highly efficient liquid transfer. NPG Asia Mater 6, e125 (2014).