We were in a marsh as a lightning storm was approaching over the river valley, around 11pm. "We saw thousands of fireflies in a rapid burst of sexual cacophony," said one witness. "It was so incredible that it is impossible to capture it in words," said another witness.

"We were dumbfounded by the intensity of the brightness of the fireflies and by how far we could see them," said another witness. They were further illuminated by the lightning from the approaching storm. It was almost like the fireflies were beckoning the storm.

We've all seen fireflies, but this was unlike anything we've ever seen before.

My friend Chris called this flower a hurricane! We saw this, among many other wildflowers, on the Akin Wildflower Prairie, just outside of Lawrence, Kansas. The soil on this small patch of land has never been plowed.