As I drove down the lane on my way to work this morning, I spied many white blobs along the ground near the creek bed. They looked like maybe plastic bags wrapped around small stems, like someone's trash had spilled, but only white trash bags.

     I had to stop to take photos, since you wouldn't be able to help me without some kind of visual clues. Each fluffy white bit was swirly and bright, and only stuck on the ground,  around a small stem. Maybe this is some kind of spider web?

     I got close enough to one to see the fibers, long strands, swirly and white.

     I picked it up and put it in my hand, and it melted! It is a form of ice? How can ice form like that? It isn't snow. It only occurred along the ground, only on a stem, only wrapped in long strands. What is this stuff? All y'all who live where there is snow may know. Maybe this is something you see all the time. I thought I saw it last year, in the same place along the creek, but didn't stop to photograph it, and it was gone in the evening when I returned.  Help me out, please. Thank you in advance.

  UPDATE:

     Leepin' Larry posted a link to Dr. James R. Carter, Professor Emeritus, Department of Geography-Geology at Illinois State University. Professor Carter's website describes these Ice Flowers, lists their other names, lists historical and current writings and observations, etc.

     Larry, you get the prize!

   ice flower images © diana ani stokely 2010