Fire
Fire is a necessary stage in the lives of almost all fynbos plants, and is common during the dry summer months. Many of the seeds germinate only after the intense heat of a fire. In readiness for fire, most proteas retain their seeds on the bush for at least one year, a habit known as serotiny. They do this in structures which resemble the original flowerheads. In some species these structures are strikingly beautiful and long-lasting, which accounts for their use in dried floral arrangements. Around 30% of plants in the Fynbos produce seeds with an elaiosome which attract ants that carry the seeds into their burrows. In this way, the seeds are protected from fire. This relationship is an example of myrmecochory (the distribution of seeds by ants).
Read more about this topic: Fynbos
Famous quotes containing the word fire:
“These violent delights have violent ends,
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which as they kiss consume.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The fire is the main comfort of the camp, whether in summer or winter, and is about as ample at one season as at another. It is as well for cheerfulness as for warmth and dryness.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“African rights and liberty is a subject that ought to fire the breast of every free man of color in these United States, and excite in his bosom a lively, deep, decided and heart-felt interest.”
—Maria Stewart (1803–1879)