TORREYA 



Vol. 35 November-December, 1935 No. 6 



Plant invasion following fires 

 Pail \V. Graff 



The relationship of plants to burned-over areas has received 

 comparatively little attention by American botanists. As an 

 ecological problem it seems to me that this offers a number of 

 interesting possibilities. It is for this reason, and because of the 

 apparently unusual attendant circumstances, that two recent 

 papers by Torrey 1 appearing in this journal are of particular 

 interest. These had to do with wide spread invasions by Mar- 

 chantia following forest fires. We are comparatively well ac- 

 quainted with Chamaenirion, a pyrophilous plant found com- 

 monly about the entire north temperate region, and the lodge- 

 pole pine of our western states, but information regarding the 

 plant invasion and sequence of development upon eastern burns 

 is fragmentary. 



It would seem — and this is offered as a suggestion and with 

 the hope that someone will follow it up with their notes and 

 observations — that burns resulting from the firing of piled slash 

 or piles of railroad ties offer an excellent opportunity for gather- 

 ing interesting ecological data. This would be particularly true 

 if carried out through a sufficient length of time. A comparison 

 of several such localities with differing soil, moisture and floris- 

 tic conditions should prove an attractive problem. One does not 

 always need a large area to develop data of a worth while na- 

 ture. 



It may be said that in general the soil of such localities re- 



1 Torrey, R. H. Marchantia polymorpha after forest fires. Torreya 32: 

 9-10, 1932. 



Torrey, R. H. Another report of Marchantia polymorplia after forest fires. 

 Torreya 32: 128-129.1932. 



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