FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Smilax rotundifolia | Common Greenbrier 



IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT : 
Common greenbrier is top-killed by fire [46].


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT : 
NO-ENTRY


PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE : 
Common greenbrier sprouts from rhizomes after fire.  Common greenbrier
responded with vigorous vegetative reproduction to spring and fall
prescribed fires in eastern white pine (Pinus strobus) and eastern white
pine-hardwood forests in New Hampshire.  The fires were of low intensity,
with flames greater than 20 inches (50 cm) high, and burned only the
surface litter layer [46].

Common greenbrier sprouted after an early March headfire in a young
eastern Texas loblolly pine-shortleaf pine (P. echinata)-hardwood
forest.  The fire consumed 80 to 90 percent of the previous year's
needle and leaf fall and about 50 percent of the older accumulated
litter.  The average common greenbrier height 2 years after the fire was
46 inches (118 cm) with an average of 1.60 stems per plant.  Average
height on the unburned control was 187 inches (476 cm) with an average
of 1.73 stems per plant [37].

Annual and biennial early April fires were conducted in little bluestem
(Schizachyrium scoparium) grasslands in Connecticut [27,28].  The study
sites were on agricultural lands abandoned 40 to 60 years previously and
had up to 40 percent woody cover of clonal shrubs.  After 15 years of
burning, common greenbrier frequency increased over prefire levels on
one plot but decreased slightly on another due to heavy lagomorph use of
succulent postfire shoots.  Cover of common greenbrier changed very
little during the 18-year study, so the authors classified common
greenbrier as a persister species rather than an increaser.  On unburned
plots adjacent to the burns, common greenbrier increased in cover and
frequency over the duration of the study.


DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE : 
NO-ENTRY


FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Common greenbrier foliage was sampled 1 and 2 years after low-severity
and high-severity fires and compared to common greenbrier foliage in
unburned areas.  The first growing season after the low-severity fire,
common greenbrier protein content was 7.8 percent higher than on
unburned areas, but no difference was detected the second postfire
growing season.  One and two years after the high-severity fire, the
protein contents were 6 percent and 19 percent higher, respectively,
than foliage from unburned areas.  Neither fire produced substantial
changes in total solids, ash, ether content, crude fiber, or
nitrogen-free extract [8].

Greenbrier spp. (Smilax rotundifolia and S. laurifolia) are a component
of several fuel models for the coastal plain of North Carolina.  They
contribute to ladder fuels in the high pocosin type.  Greenbrier
intertwines with grass species in some types, impeding foot travel [45].

Related categories for Species: Smilax rotundifolia | Common Greenbrier