In very dry years some individual plants or entire colonies do not bloom at all, or bloom but fail to mature fruits, probably due to decreases in water availability. One way xerophytic species, such as spiny horsebrush, cope with a short growing season is to flower simultaneously. During a fire this shrub burns rapidly with little heat transferred downward into the roots. A low-intensity fire may stimulate this species to initiate new shoots from rhizomes. The effect of fire on shrubs is more damaging than that on forbs and grasses.
Plants quickly regain and surpass their original size.
After a fire, crown-sprouting spiny horsebrush may initially dominate sagebrush ranges. Distribution of mammals, reptiles, and amphibians by BLM physiographic regions and A.W. Kuchler's associations for the eleven western states. U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management. Blaisdell, James P. 1953. Ecological effects of planned burning of sagebrush-grass range on the upper Snake River Plains.