Australia; VIC
A banksia which grows in the forests in Victoria is vulnerable to extinction in areas where bushfires are occurring more frequently, according to Australian research. These banksias have woody fruits that are opened by the heat of the fire to release seeds, but those seeds need to grow into plants old enough to produce their own fruits and seeds before the next fire. The researchers looked at 25 sites across Victoria that burned during the Black Saturday bushfires in 2019-2020 and found that seedlings of the Hairpin Banksia, or Banksia cunninghamii, were only found at sites where the plants were 12 years or older at the time of the fires. The plants that grew after the Black Saturday fires are not expected to produce their own fruits and seeds for at least a decade (early 2030s) and the researchers say if fire returns in the next decade, the remaining populations of the Hairpin Banksia would be under threat.
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