Serotiny

Serotiny {adj. serotinous) In certain plants, especially trees (e.g. jack pine (Pinus banksiana), lodgepole pine (P. contorta), and many species of Eucalyptus), the retention of seeds in pods or cones on the tree, often for many years, until a disaster, most com monly the heat of a fire, causes their re lease. After fire, the seeds fall on grounc fertilized by ash in a site cleared o competitors.