Epicormic buds under bark let oaks and eucalypts resprout after fire
Many fire-adapted trees keep dormant epicormic buds protected under thick bark. When flames kill leaves and outer shoots, those buds awaken and carpet the trunk and branches with new green.
Eucalypts are famous for this blackened-then-leafy recovery; some oaks and other hardwoods use related resprouting. Energy stored in roots and stem fuels the flush.
Survival is not only escaping fire — it is packing spare meristems under armor. Epicormic resprouting turns a scorched silhouette back into a living canopy.
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