A few weeks ago, one of my neighbours set the hill alight, causing a fire in a neighbour's place and some frantic running up and down with buckets on my side to prevent the same happening to me. In previous posts, I have written about how these grasslands are fire-adapted and although it hasn't rained in months, there are lots of signs of new life emerging from the ashes.
Hard-leaved ferns that grow in the shade of rocks
Ledebouria grow from bulbs, so they are already flowering
I always thought that fire was devastating to grasslands, until I learned that these ecosystems are adapted to and need regular fire to maintain their health. All the plants have large underground stems and fire merely removes the top layer. It also removes the grass and gives them a chance to grow leaves and flowers without competition. These plants will all flower and make seeds before the rains come and the grass begins to grow tall again
New vines from a yellow Morning Glory species
Parinari capensis is a geoxyle, or underground tree and it really benefits from fire as the leaves become infested with black scale-like parasites over time and burning reduces the parasite burden considerably. It will bear fruit in February next year. The blackened stems on the left belong to another fireproof plant, which will resurrect itself as soon as their is a rainfall
The neighbour did a lot of brush-clearing around his perimeter wall, which had become very overgrown, and they also removed the iron gate so it looks like they were jolted out of their complacency. I was, that's for sure
