There have been consecutive frosts these last few mornings. The whiteness can seem to blind the features around but it also sharpens in places.
Against the bronze beech carpet I was distracted by a structure framed in ice.
I take it to be Wood Cudweed, 𝐺𝑛𝑎𝑝ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑢𝑚 𝑠𝑦𝑙𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑚, known locally as Gnaphale des bois and Bosdroogbloem. The Dutch name is most illuminating. The plant blooms months earlier, but the dry flower heads endure, late persistence into midwinter.
Chewed up, rolled. Used to stuff bedding and sores.
Cudu. Lump. Bolus. Mass.