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Fire Ecology
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Mature longleaf Pine stand with wire grass in the understory Another species that uses fire that is native to the coastal plain of Virginia is Longleaf pine. Longleaf pine is a species that requires fire to burn off plants that compete with it. Plants compete for nutrients, light, water and space. When longleaf pine is a seedling, it grows a large root system, and it grows very long waxy needles that surround the buds.
Longleaf pine bud |
Young longleaf pine
Longleaf pine's cone it the largest in the eastern United States. |
| It does all this because where it grows there are frequent ground fires that burn up all small plants except for longleaf pine, because the long needles surrounding the buds protect them from the heat of the fire. Also since all of the other plants are burned off the large root system has plenty of nutrients and water to up take, and the leaves have plenty of light to take in. |  -Longleaf pine stand after a fire.
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