FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Dracocephalum parviflorum | American Dragonhead 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
NO-ENTRY


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
American dragonhead is a residual colonizer that is prominent in initial
postfire communities, even after holocaustic fires [26].

After fire in Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) habitats in central
Idaho, American dragonhead dominated the initial postfire vegetation.
Plants were absent from preburn communities and adjacent 20-year-old
burns.  Frequencies in postfire years 1 and 2 were 96 and 100 percent,
respectively.  American dragonhead comprised 30 percent of all plant
cover in the first postfire year and 37 percent of all cover in the
second postfire year.  It's cover was greatly reduced by the third
growing season following the fire [21].

In ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) types in the Black Hills of South
Dakota, American dragonhead exhibited initial postfire prominence but
disappeared or greatly declined in importance by the second or third
postfire growing season [23].  It showed the same response in jack pine
(Pinus banksiana) habitats in Saskatchewan [6], white spruce (Picea
glauca) habitats in Alaska [28], quaking aspen (Populus
tremuloides)-mixed conifer types in Idaho [5], and in Douglas-fir
habitats in western Montana [7].  American dragonhead was present in
4-year-old and 29-year-old burns in pinyon (Pinus spp.)-juniper
(Juniperus spp.) habitats in Colorado, but cover was sparse [10].  It
played an important role in early succession after severe fires in fir
(Abies spp.)-spruce (Picea spp.) habitats in Grand Teton National Park,
Wyoming, but disappeared within 43 postfire years [2].  American
dragonhead had greater density in moderately-burned stands compared to
severely-burned lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) stands in Yellowstone
National Park [1].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
NO-ENTRY

Related categories for Species: Dracocephalum parviflorum | American Dragonhead