Postfire flowering: Gladiolus illyricus
On the 4th of Sep 2016, a wildfire burnt 800 ha in Xàbia, north of Alacant (Marina Alta, eastern Spain). About 7 months later (March 2017), Gladiolus illyricus shows a spectacular blooming:
Gladiolus illyricus. Photos by: Toni Bolufer (top), Juli G Pausas (bottom)
For more examples of postfire flowering, see: jgpausas.blogs.uv.es/tag/postfire-flowering/
That’s spectacular! I wonder how similar postfire flowering is across the Mediterranean Ecosystems, in terms of species richness, functional types (i.e., pollination syndrome), and phylogenetic diversity.
I wonder too … Very little is still known on this topic.