Watsonias & fire.
Gary (Mon, 22 Aug 2005 12:33:46 PDT)

Dear John et al,

Many plants have evolved to require special conditions to bloom, set seed, and especially to sprout the seeds. Smoke exposure techniques were developed, I believe, in Australia a number of years ago due to the fact that many outback plant seeds were reluctant to sprout under normal circumstances. I found that Billardiera seeds if not fresh will grow with this method. It is a standard practice to treat seeds of Proteas this way.

A good site that explains fire and smoke requirements for some north American plants is at http://nativeplants.for.uidaho.edu/Content/…

Gary in Hilo, HI

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