FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Sambucus cerulea | Blue Elderberry 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
Fire effects vary with season, severity and intensity, site
characteristics, and the age and vigor of the plants; however, fire
generally kills aboveground parts of blue elderberry which then sprout
vigorously from the root crown [40,61,78].  A severe fire might expose
and kill the root and stem buds from which sprouting occurs.  Fire also
scarifies buried seed, and germination usually occurs the first growing
season following the fire [26,45].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
Blue elderberry can respond to fire by resprouting, although only one
fire study in California chaparral shows blue elderberry relying on
resprouting [66].  In that study no seedlings of elderberry were found.
Fire also scarifies the hard seed coat and stimulates germination of
buried seeds [26,75,94].  Buried seeds respond to fire very quickly.  In
northern Idaho elderberry seedlings established the first growing season
after the fire [45].  There were no new seedlings after that year.
There was some resprouting of shrubs that had been growing in stand
openings as well.  In Oregon [46,47,79] blue elderberry responded from
buried seed more strongly on logged and burned plots than on logged but
unburned plots.  Blue elderberry dominated several burned plots and only
one or two unburned plots during the 3rd to 5th growing seasons.  Other
shrubs were dominant by the 11th to 16th seasons [47,78].

The severity of the fire appeared to make little or no difference to the
frequency of elderberry seedlings in studies of high and low severity
burns after clearcutting in northern Idaho [45,50].

Repeated fires may reduce elderberry [50]. Isaac [30] stated that blue
elderberry spread slowly by seed and so was eliminated by a second fire.


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
NO-ENTRY

Related categories for Species: Sambucus cerulea | Blue Elderberry