Crown sprouting is the ability of a

plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...

to regenerate its shoot system after destruction (usually by fire) by activating dormant vegetative structures to produce regrowth from the root crown (the junction between the root and shoot portions of a plant). These dormant structures take the form of

lignotuber A lignotuber is a woody swelling of the root crown possessed by some plants as a protection against destruction of the plant stem, such as by fire. Other woody plants may develop basal burls as a similar survival strategy, often as a respons ...

s or basal epicormic buds. Plant species that can accomplish crown sprouting are called crown resprouters (distinguishing them from stem or trunk resprouters) and, like them, are characteristic of fire-prone habitats such as

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant plant community, community found primarily in California, southern Oregon, and northern Baja California. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate (mild wet winters and hot dry summers) and infrequent, high-intens ...

. In contrast to plant fire survival strategies that decrease the

flammability A combustible material is a material that can burn (i.e., sustain a flame) in air under certain conditions. A material is flammable if it ignites easily at ambient temperatures. In other words, a combustible material ignites with some effort a ...

of the plant, or by requiring heat to

germinate Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an flowering plant, angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the sp ...

, crown sprouting allows for the total destruction of the above ground growth. Crown sprouting plants typically have extensive root systems in which they store nutrients allowing them to survive during fires and sprout afterwards. Early researchers suggested that crown sprouting species might lack species genetic diversity; however, research on

Gondwana Gondwana ( ; ) was a large landmass, sometimes referred to as a supercontinent. The remnants of Gondwana make up around two-thirds of today's continental area, including South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia (continent), Australia, Zea ...

n shrubland suggests that crown sprouting species have similar genetic diversity to seed sprouters. Some

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

, such as ''

Arctostaphylos ''Arctostaphylos'' (; from "bear" and "bunch of grapes") is a genus of plants comprising the manzanitas () and bearberries. There are about 60 species of ''Arctostaphylos'', ranging from ground-hugging arctic, coastal, and mountain shrub t ...

'' and ''

Ceanothus ''Ceanothus'' is a genus of about 50–60 species of nitrogen-fixing shrubs and small trees in the buckthorn family (Rhamnaceae). Common names for members of this genus are buckbrush, California lilac, soap bush, or just ceanothus. ''"Ceanothus" ...

'', have species that are both resprouters and not, both adapted to fire.

California Buckeye ''Aesculus californica'', commonly known as the California buckeye or California horse-chestnut, is a species of buckeye native to California and southwestern Oregon. Description Aesculus californica is a large deciduous shrub or small tree, u ...

, ''

Aesculus californica ''Aesculus californica'', commonly known as the California buckeye or California horse-chestnut, is a species of buckeye native to California and southwestern Oregon. Description Aesculus californica is a large deciduous shrub or small tree, u ...

'', is an example of a western United States tree which can regenerate from its root crown after a fire event, but can also regenerate by seed.C.M. Hogan, 2008

Notes

References

Arthur W. Sampson and Arnold M. Schultz, ''Control of brush and undesirable trees''
* William J. Bond and Jeremy J. Midgley (2003) ''The Evolutionary Ecology of Sprouting in Woody Plants'', Int. J Plant Sci. 164(S3):S103–S114. 2003, University of Chicago. * C. Michael Hogan. 2008. ''Aesculus californica'', Globaltwitcher.com, ed. N. Stromber

Wildfire ecology Plant morphology Plant physiology Botanical nomenclature {{plant-physiology-stub

See also

Notes

References