Originally Posted by lorax

If it is what I think it is, namely a type of Pampas grass, burning it returns the nutrients of the current blades to the soil, unclogs the center of the clump, and reinvigorates the rootstock. Basically, it makes it come back twice as strong.

Pampas grass down here, when it's in personal collections and not just growing on the roadside, gets this treatment yearly as part of the New-Year's Renewal Burns. We torch up the city's Eucalyptus trees too.