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De Lange and Boucher (1990) discovered the germination enhancing effect of plant-derived smoke on seed of fynbos species. This finding has been applied to horti- culturally important fynbos species and to date 301 species have been tested for a response to smoke. Germination in 150 (49.8%) of these was significantly improved by smoke treatment; the remaining 151 species showed no significant response. Families in which species showed a significant response included the horticulturally important Asteraceae (everlastings), Bruniaceae (brunias), Crassulaceae (crassulas), Ericaceae (ericas), Geraniaceae (pelargoniums), Mesembryanthemaceae (mesembs), Proteaceae (pro- teas) and Restionaceae (restios). No species responded in the families of geophytes such as Amaryllidaceae and Hyacinthaceae and in the Iridaceae the majority of species studied (also geophytes) did not respond. Further analysis of …