Just as Rain Daisies survive drought by producing seeds that lie dormant in the soil during Summer, many Fynbos plants survive fire by producing seeds that germinate after fire. These seeds can survive for decades in the soil.

Unfortunately, the seeds of invasive alien plants like Rooikrans and Port Jackson also survive for many years in the soil. They germinate in large numbers after fire and must be weeded out so that they do not replace indigenous Fynbos plants.

Smoke helps some seeds to germinate:

• The seeds of some Fynbos plants germinate much better after fire than without fire. This is because chemicals in the smoke stimulate the seeds to germinate.

• Smoke stimulates many small seeds to grow, e.g. ericas.

Some plants store their seeds on the bush:

• The Swartland Sugarbush grows from seed after a fire, but the seeds don’t lie dormant in the soil. Instead, when these protea flowers die, they remain on the plant and turn into hard woody “cones”. The seeds are stored in these cones, which protect them from hungry mice and birds.

• After the plant has been killed by fire, the cone opens up and releases the seeds.

• The young plants germinate and grow, fertilised by the ash from the fire and with no competition from older plants.

• Because thousands of seeds are released at one time, the birds and mice are unable to eat all of them. Many seeds survive, germinate and grow.

• People call this strategy of storing seeds on the plant serotiny.

Ants bury the seeds of some plants:

• Indigenous Harvester Ants “plant” the seeds of some Fynbos plants. Some of the plants on the poster whose seeds are buried by ants are the Rondevlei Spiderhead, Flats Silkypuff and Green Snakestem Pincushion.

• A nutritious coat or cap on the seed attracts the ants. They drag the seeds underground into their burrows, where they eat the coating, but leave the seeds unharmed. Once the seed coat has been removed, the seed becomes too slippery for the ant to hold onto, so they cannot discard the seeds from their nest.

• The seeds may survive for many years in the soil, protected from birds and mice, as well as from being burned in the next veld fire.

• When the veld does burn (usually in Summer), the plant cover is removed, leaving the soil bare. Without plants to provide shade, the seeds experience large daily changes in temperature that take place in late Summer and early Autumn. These temperature changes cause the seeds to germinate and start growing, just as the winter rains start to fall.

• People call this process of ants dispersing seeds myrmecochory.

• Invasive alien Argentine Ants threaten plants with ant-dispersed seeds. They chase indigenous ants away, eat the nutritious coatings of Fynbos seeds, but do not bury these seeds. Rodents and birds eat many of the seeds left on the ground, so few survive to germinate.