Fire Followers – Plant and Pollinator
Soon after the Fall 2024 fires in Ventura County we saw the hills starting to turn green, and dotted with white flowers – calystegia. This is a common sight after fires in southern California, a land of frequent fires. It looks like bindweed and is called false bindweed and in the same Conolvulacea family. It can seem to overwhelm the surrounding landscape for many months after a fire.
Calystegia macrostegia, is also known as Island Morning Glory, is a fire-adapted plant that thrives in post-fire environments. It's a fast-growing vine with white to pale pink flowers, often found in coastal chaparral and rocky soils. The plant's seeds can germinate after a fire, and it can also resprout from its woody rootstock.
Interestingly, another fire follower is the ground dwelling native bee, Diadasia bituberculata, or bindweed turret bee, that thrives on the pollen of the morning glory, the females filling the nest with pollen for the larvae when they hatch below ground.
https://ucanr.edu/blog/topics-subtropics/article/digging-digger-bees
These digger bees build nests underground and create aboveground structures that prevent attack by parasites. Check out the activity here as captured by a resident Jane Delahoyde of Ventura after this recent fire.
A more thorough discussion and video can be found at this UC ANR blog
https://ucanr.edu/blog/bug-squad/article/glory-bindweed-turret-bees
The Glory of the Bindweed Turret Bees by Shaw Christensen