FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Hymenoclea salsola | White Burrobrush 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
White burrobrush is often top-killed by fire.  Most white burrobrush
plants were burned to ground level by a severe summer fire in the Snow
Creek area of Riverside County, California [23].  In a canyon in the San
Ysidro Mountains, California, a July wildfire in the chaparral-desert
ecotone top-killed nearly all white burrobrush plants.  Occasional small
pockets of plants in protected areas were not harmed [29].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
White burrobrush populations recover quickly after fire via off-site
seeds and sprouting [23,29].  Five years after the Snow Creek fire,
white burrobrush frequency and cover were greater on burned than
unburned sites [23].  Following the July fire in the San Ysidro
Mountains, more than 90 percent of white burrobrush plants survived by
sprouting.  Some white burrobrush started sprouting within 2 months
after the fire.  Regrowth is summarized below [29]:

                # of resprouting     Mean # of        Mean length of 
                   plants/ha        sprouts/plant      sprouts (cm)

2 months after      5                     1                     3.8
fire (Sept)

4 months after    114                     9                    14.5 
fire (Nov)

7 months after    247                     6                    10.4
fire (Feb)

10 months after    79                    12                    33.3
fire (June)


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
NO-ENTRY

Related categories for Species: Hymenoclea salsola | White Burrobrush