FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Serenoa repens | Saw-Palmetto 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
Saw-palmetto has very flammable foliage [33].  Most fires defoliate and
top-kill it [1,3].  Saw-palmetto rhizomes survive most fires.  Unusually
severe fires may consume the soil's organic layer and/or sufficiently
expose and heat the rhizomes to kill them and prevent regeneration
[8,38].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
Saw-palmetto responds to fire by resprouting immediately [8,18,19].
Drawing on carbohydrate stores in the rhizomes, it initiates leaf
production and vegetative reproduction, increasing stem density [20].
The response is so strong that winter-burned saw-palmetto will break
winter dormancy and produce leaves and fruit out of season [1,19].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
Recovery of burned saw-palmetto stands is rapid.  Cover may return to
preburn levels in as little as 1 year [1,19], and plants burned in
November can sprout a fully expanded leaf by January [20].  Generally,
winter-burned stands recover faster than summer-burned stands because of
the longer period of growth before the next winter dormancy [1].  The
1st year after a fire, stem density can be higher than preburn levels
because of adventitious sprouting [27].  Two or three years later, the
stand thins itself and density and crown coverage become equal to
preburn conditions [20].

Burning reduces flowering and fruiting [19], possibly by causing
saw-palmetto to exhaust its carbohydrate reserves in the regeneration
effort.  Recovery of carbohydrate reserves may take a year [20] or
longer [23].

Frequent burning may favor the procumbent growth form over the erect one
[38].


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Saw-palmetto is well adapted to fire, making it difficult to control.
It can be held in check using fire, but it remains vigorous and recovers
[40,22].  Very short fire-rotations (1 to 3 years) perpetuate
saw-palmetto understories and kill pine seedlings on palmetto-prairies
which might otherwise support well-stocked pine stands [40].  Summer
fires are most effective at removing saw-palmetto top-growth [18].

The effects of fire suppression on saw-palmetto depends on the plant
communities it occupies.  Fire suppression may decrease saw-palmetto
cover in scrub communities where other understory hardwoods can overtop
it.  In contrast, suppression, long rotations, and light fires cause
Southern pinelands to become overgrown with saw-palmetto [7].

Overgrown saw-palmetto understories constitute fire hazards, which
promote wildfires that may kill pine seedlings and saplings [8,40].
Tall saw-palmetto understories also carry wildfires into the overstory,
killing mature trees [33,36].  Saw-palmetto is the largest contributor
to understory fuels in the Florida pinelands [36].

Consult Ward [42] to predict particulate matter emmision rates from
fireline intensity and flame length for prescribed fires in the
saw-palmetto-gallberry type.  Saw-palmetto foliage yields 2,150,000
calories per pound (4,800 dcCal/g) and is 34 percent ash [21].

To maintain fruit production for white-tailed deer, Fults [13]
recommends burning saw-palmetto understories every 3 to 5 years.

Related categories for Species: Serenoa repens | Saw-Palmetto