Trees get furry

I had expected that sometime after the fire many of the eucalypts would display their adaptation to fire by sprouting from the small buds that lurk below their bark.  (The technical name is epicormic buds.)  I had noticed a few examples of this in the recent past but today it all seemed to be happening.

This brown tree is a Eucalyptus stellulata (Black Sallee), which I planted soon after moving as being a more or less native species with great frost tolerance.
 Seems to have good fire tolerance also, as it has sprouts.
 E. meliodora (Yellow Box).  A small specimen compared to many on the block.
 A very nice shoot.
 E. macrorhyncha (Red Stringybark).  A very common species in the area.
These buds have obviously been growing for a few days.
 E. viminalis (Ribbon Gum).  This row were planted for dust control along a no longer used right of way.
 They are sprouting nicely from the trunk, rather than the branches.
 Many of the large E. polyanthemos (Red Box) by the Creek appear to have kept most of their foliage.  These saplings don't look too good from a distance ...
 .. but are sprouting nicely from the lignotuber.
That situation is repeated in our top paddock where there are many saplings growing in the formerly grazed area.

Another tree which has been well incinerated is also sprouting from the root rather than the superstructure.
I was stimulated to look for signs of epicormicity by seeing this sight a bit further up Whiskers Creek Rd this morning.
 We wondered if it was epicormic shoots or lichen.  I didn't have either my better camera or my bins with me, and the iPhone doesn't do long range. This afternoon I went back and resolved the matter to the former.
 On the way home I glanced at some shoots on the willows,  Then I looked up and suddenly realised that the willows had lost all their yellow leaves and were back in full spring-like green-ness.
 Not a tree, but it's nice to see Lomandra longifolia poking forth.

Comments

Mary Chamie said…
So glad to see the green leaves arriving. We just went through a very big burn down here on our island, too, and it is quite amazing the way a forest bounces back after a fire. It is almost as much fun to observe the trees and bushes emerge out of all that blackened and burned out space, as it is to see another, unexpected round of spring. Here is hoping that things are now a bit more back to normal for you.
28 March 2017 at 12:04:00 GMT+11
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