In most cases, serotiny – retaining the seeds in a hardy capsule or cone, which opens in response to a particular “trigger” – is an adaptation to ensure a plant species’ survival in a fire-prone environment.
Serotinous plants exists in both the Northern and the Southern Hemisphere, but Australia is home to the overwhelming majority – WA most especially.
More than 75% of the world’s known serotinous plants are endemic to WA, mostly to southwest WA.
Click here to discover more about serotiny.
Photo is copyright Doug Spencer, taken at Waychinicup at 5.17 pm on 22 September 2020.
This post – in the aftermath of fires in the Stirling Range – has several spectacular examples of serotiny.