The flowers grew to a height of about two metres, their slender stems, like rods of glass, bearing a dozen leaves,
the once transparent fronds frosted by the fossilised veins. At the peak of each stem was the time flower, the size of a
goblet, the opaque outer petals enclosing the crystal heart. Their diamond brilliance contained a thousand facets, the
crystal seeming the drain the air of its light and motion. As the flowers swayed slightly in the evening air, they glowed
like flame-tipped spears.
(from J.G. Ballard’s Garden of Time)