There are some memorable photos of geophytes blooming after a fire in Table Mountain: A Natural History by Anton Pauw and Steven Johnson, but unfortunately not memorable enough that I remember the species. Perhaps Haemanthus sanguineus? What I do recall is that some were said to bloom only after a fire. Some relevant articles from Veld and Flora: http://plantzafrica.com/veldflora/1990/… http://plantzafrica.com/veldflora/1998/… http://plantzafrica.com/veldflora/1992/… The last documents fire-induced flowering in Orchids. While we are speaking of South Africa, allow me to digress briefly to ask if anyone grows Mimetes in the US. Max Withers Oakland > Message: 1 > Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2006 09:57:12 -0700 > From: Mary Gutierrez <norwesgard@earthlink.net> > Subject: [pbs] Question about fire and bulbs > To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > Message-ID: <DF40FB3F-4E1F-4D75-A90D-80F85FFBB845@earthlink.net> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed > > I have been reading a lot about South African bulbs, and references > say that some species bloom better after fire. > > I know that a number of other SA plants: restios, proteas, etc., > require fire for seed to germinate, but is it a similar requirement > for some of the bulbs? > > Or are bulbs more abundant after fire simply because competing brush > is cleared? > > I'm curious about this, because I want to know if the lack of fire in > a garden environment (hopefully!) means that some of these bulbs > won't grow successfully for the gardener. > > If anyone has insight on this, I'd appreciate it. > > Thanks! > > Mary Gutierrez > Seattle > >