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Earleaf acacia’s measured rate of fire spread through dead leaves does not establish that the tree is fire resistant.
FLAMITS, the trait database published by Dryad and Global Ecology and Biogeography, reports a burning spread rate of 0.33 centimetres per second for dead leaves tested on a burning bench. That is a measurement of how quickly burning spreads through the tested material, not a fire-resistance grade.
The observation comes from Bowman and Wilson’s 1988 study of fuel characteristics in coastal monsoon forests in Australia’s Northern Territory, with sampling in September. Those details matter because the number describes particular fuel under particular test conditions. FLAMITS preserves that context and does not impose a single threshold across different variables, devices and plant parts. Calling 0.33 centimetres per second a passing or failing score would add a judgment the database does not make.
For a homeowner choosing earleaf acacia, the distinction is practical. The speed at which dead leaves burn is a different question from how readily they ignite or how a living tree withstands fire. The measurement supplies information about one aspect of burning, but it does not justify choosing this tree for fire resistance.
Form
tree
Rated in
Global
On this lot
1. Fire evidence and conditions
Fire evidence
Mixed evidence — location does not change the cited classification.
Fire-performance conditions
Fire ecology context
Placement evidence
Evidence regions
Global
Maintenance
2. Why this plant is relevant here
State distribution
Documented in FL.
Native range
Introduced / established
2 sourced range or established records. This is not an invasive warning.
USDA hardiness
3. Legal, ecological, and broader status
Legal-list status
Seed-list status
Reported invasive here
2 ecological invasive reports.
Broader regional context
Federal context
How to read this page
The status above is computed from the cited rows below: independent recommendations can support a fire-resistant result, an avoid row can produce keep-away, and disagreement stays visible as conflict. Placement notes preserve each source’s own scheme rather than translating unlike rules into one scale. This is evidence about a plant, not permission to plant it in every part of the defensible space; Zone 0 remains noncombustible.
Native and introduced range evidence
These are exact U.S. botanical-area records from the cited range source. Native and
introduced describe biogeographic relationship, not fire performance or planting approval.
Doubtful and extinct rows stay visible but do not count as current presence.
The lossless worldwide derivative is retained once in the research corpus; object pages repeat only exact U.S. areas needed by the local lens. The JSON twin carries the same page assertions.
The evidence
Grouped by what each source concluded. Primary evidence rated the plant itself
(a lab, field program, or original curation); corroboration compiled or
republished another source's rating and resolves to its root lineage.
Listed without a rating (4)Corroboration (4 rows from 1 source)
4 cited rows from this source; its identity, lineage and tier are stated once.
Primary study Bowman1988: Bowman, D., & Wilson, B. (1988). Fuel characteristics of coastal monsoon forests, Northern Territory, Australia. Journal of Biogeography, 807-817.
Shared row context: plant part leaves; site Bowman1988-1; sampling september.
