FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Carpinus caroliniana | American Hornbeam 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
American hornbeam is probably either top-killed or killed by most fires.
A wildfire severe enough to kill the hardwood component of a white oak
(Q. alba) stand in Rhode Island eliminated American hornbeam from the
stand.  Prior to the fire, American hornbeam comprised 6 percent of the
stems [3].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
In northern Alabama, prescribed fires in a 5- to 6-year-old hardwood
stand (established subsequent to clearcutting) resulted in an increase
in the total number of stems per acre 1 to 2 years after fire.  Most of
the increase was attributed to multiple sprouting from existing hardwood
stems that were top-killed by the fire.  American hornbeam was listed
with a group of "all others" which numbered 171 stems per acre on the
unburned plot.  This group of species averaged 168 stems per acre, 26 of
which were American hornbeam, on burned plots that experienced three
different types of fires:  (1) plots burned in spring with a strip
headfire; 72 percent of the area moderately burned, 8 percent lightly
burned or unburned, and 20 percent heavily burned, (2) plots burned in
fall by a slow fire uniformly covering the area, and (3) plots burned in
spring with a moderately intense fire over the entire sampling area
[26].

In North Carolina, a 35-year-old loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) plantation
experienced a wildfire in 1931.  When the stand was observed in 1940,
American hornbeam density and basal area were low but similar on three
types of plots:  surface burn, crown burn, and unburned [29].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
The very hard, dense wood of American hornbeam rots very rapidly;
dying trees usually disappear within a decade [21].

American hornbeam is sometimes present as an undesirable species in
cut-over pine on terrace or terrace-equivalent sites.  Burning in late
spring to early winter may be useful for controlling undesirable
hardwoods on these sites, but is effective only during a long dry
period.  Fuels are too moist to achieve good fire spread otherwise [34].

Related categories for Species: Carpinus caroliniana | American Hornbeam