Brunia paleacea, the resprouter solution of the space problem

Whiteness of the bracts on the prickly Brunia paleacea flowerheads breaks the fynbos green. The cream-coloured flowers are positioned lower than the bracts in the head, tiny and densely massed together. The about 30 flowers in the globular head each grows two styles from the ovary.

The heads, about 7 mm in diameter, grow in clusters on branched shoots at stem-tips.There is dense overlap among the incurving leaves on the upper stems.

The plant resprouts after fire from the little stump or lignotuber remaining among the ashes on the burnt mountainside. This part, not consumed by the fire, brought about the name of bergstompie. The woody stump is protected in the earth when the above-ground plant components are devastated by the flames. So, come next winters rainy season, the still established root system produces young stems much faster than reseeder shrubs can grow new plants from scratch, i.e., from seed.

Flowers and fruits therefore appear on resprouters a few seasons before reseeders in new veld. This allows for a time-share system on fynbos land in which annuals and tiny plants flourish in the first spring after the fire. Following this the competition for space and sunlight becomes fiercer every season until the tall and spreading perennial shrubs push the little species into submission and a long wait ensues until the next fire comes. Resprouters win during the first few seasons. In this way some veld accommodates more survivors on the land than would be possible if all did their thing on the available land at the same time.

So, the species take turns and occupy space for a period as best they can, in a time-share system "invented" by nature long ago and established over a long time. A peaceful and perpetual struggle for Lebensraum among all the living to remain living (Bean and Johns, 2005; Manning, 2007).