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The photos in #2 through #4 in this series were all taken in Spring 2020 – in a section of Waychinicup that had been burnt some time in the preceding several months, probably, via a Summer lightning strike.
Today’s Hakea was blooming on the very windy afternoon of 07 February 2022, in a different part of Waychinicup.
Comments closedIn most cases, serotiny – retaining the seeds in a hardy capsule or cone, which opens in response to a particular “trigger” – is an adaptation to ensure a plant species’ survival in a fire-prone environment.
Serotinous plants exists in both the Northern and the Southern Hemisphere, but Australia is home to the overwhelming majority – WA most especially.
More than 75% of the world’s known serotinous plants are endemic to WA, mostly to southwest WA.
Comments closedPhoto credit/time/place details are as per previous post.
As the headline says….
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Long before the arrival of humans – who have been part of “the local equation” for many thousands of years – fire was already a key element in Waychinicup’s ecology.
This post’s featured individual belongs to one of the serotinous plant species; their seeds are stored in hard capsules, which open after a fire.
A fire may well kill the individual, but the species is highly “fire tolerant”.
Probably, all or most of the Hakea species in Waychinicup are in fact fire-dependent.
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