Secret of the trees that couldn't be killed 

 
 

The School for Environmental Research, as a part of the SER seminar series, presents a topical presentation from Dr Geoff Burrows as to why eucalypts are excellent epicormic resprouters after intense fire.

When: Thursday 27 July, 11.30am-12.30pm

Where: Casuarina Campus, building 22.01

Dr Geoff Burrows, Senior Lecturer in Horticulture at Charles Stuart University will deliver an engaging lecture into the remarkable leaf axil and epicormic strand structure in both southern and northern Australia eucalypts.

Dr Burrows’ research focuses on the anatomy of Australian plants. He has current projects on resprouting structures in the Myrtaceae and bud and branch structure in the Wollemi pine.

The abstract for his presentation can be seen below.

After fire most plants either die and then regenerate from seed or they resprout from buds at or below ground level. These buds are insulated by soil from the heat of the fire. A far less common response is for plants to resprout from the above ground stems and branches (epicormic growth). The eucalypts (with some exceptions such as Mountain Ash and the mallee and mallet growth forms) are excellent epicormic resprouters. Based on our existing knowledge of epicormic bud structure the resprouting of eucalypts from the stems and branches after crown fire should not be possible.

The SER seminars and EH&S seminars run on alternate weeks.

For further seminar information visit the website at: http://www.cdu.edu.au/ser/

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