FireApproved

United States / Grow / lilly-pilly

lilly-pilly (Acmena smithii)
Photo: (c) T. Hammer, some rights reserved (CC BY) (CC BY), via iNaturalist. Species-typical, not necessarily this cultivar.

lilly-pilly

Acmena smithii (accepted: Syzygium smithii) · Myrtaceae · also called Lilly Pilly · Wikipedia

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Lilly-pilly cannot be called reliably fire resistant because Australian guidance and a shoot-flammability test genuinely disagree.

The Tasmania Fire Service places Acmena smithii in its highest flammability group. On its three-group scale, that means it should not be planted or kept inside a Building Protection Zone and should be avoided in a Fuel Modified Zone. A New Zealand laboratory study points in the same general direction: shoots air-dried for 24 hours fell into its moderate/high flammability category.

Other sources are more favorable, but they are not all judging precisely the same material or using the same premise. The Australian Plants Society Victoria calls lilly-pilly fire-retardant, meaning it resisted the first flame wave in field trials but could burn after drying. Ozbreed lists two named Acmena smithii cultivars because the genus and species recur on multiple fire-retardant plant lists. The ACT Government marks Acmena smithii minor as fire-retardant, while the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland presents Acmena smithii as a fire-resistant native for Queensland backyards.

Those labels range from laboratory behavior of dried shoots to landscape recommendations, and some apply only to named forms. They do not cancel Tasmania’s warning. For a tree near a home, the sensible reading is that lilly-pilly may offer some resistance under certain tests or conditions, but it is not consistently treated as a low-flammability choice.

Questions

Why does this record show a conflict?

The computed recommendation is conflict. Fire Resistant and Retardant Plants is one named lineage in that split, not a tie-breaker. A quantitative assessment of shoot flammability for 60 tree and shrub species is another named lineage. Same-form alternatives are cited on the related list.

Fire-resistant trees instead

Form
tree
Region
Queensland, Australia; Tasmania, Australia; Victoria, Australia
Rated in
Australia; Australian Capital Territory, Australia; Global; New Zealand +3
On this lot

1. Fire evidence and conditions

Fire evidence
Mixed evidence — location does not change the cited classification.
Placement evidence
3 source placement records; source schemes remain separate.
Evidence regions
Australia; Australian Capital Territory, Australia; Global; New Zealand; Queensland, Australia; Tasmania, Australia; Victoria, Australia

2. Why this plant is relevant here

3. Legal, ecological, and broader status

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.

Where its sources say to plant it

Placement rules below use each source's own distances or named zones, tied to its rating. They are not interchangeable with the directory's current Zone 0 guidance.

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.

Recommends (4)

Corroboration (3 rows from 3 sources)

Avoids (1)

Mid-scale / conditional (1)

Listed without a rating (17)
Corroboration (17 rows from 1 source)

  • FLAMITS: FLAMmability plant traiTS database — Dryad / Global Ecology and Biogeography · Dryad version 9 · original source Corroboration Trait database lineage: meta-aggregator

    17 cited rows from this source; its identity, lineage and tier are stated once.

    • Primary study Cui2020a: Cui, X., Paterson, A. M., Wyse, S. V., Alam, M. A., Maurin, K. J. L., Pieper, R., ... Curran, T. J. (2020a). Shoot flammability of vascular plants is phylogenetically conserved and related to habitat fire-proneness and growth form. Nature Plants, 6, 355-359.

      Shared row context: plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Cui2020a-1; sampling ND.

      • “ignition frequency (%): 100”

        FLAMITS record 1505; Ignitability measurement.

      • “maximum sample temperature (°C): 598.8”

        FLAMITS record 1699; Combustibility measurement.

      • “burning duration (s): 16.8”

        FLAMITS record 1893; Sustainability measurement.

      • “estimated burnt biomass (%): 23.1”

        FLAMITS record 2087; Consumability measurement.

    • Primary study Gill1996: Gill, M., & Moore, P. (1996). Ignitibility of leaves of Australian plants. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, CSIRO Plant Industry.

      Shared row context: Ignitability measurement; plant part leaves; fuel live; device muffle furnace; site Gill1996-1; sampling march to april.

      • “time to flaming (s): 18.48”

        FLAMITS record 3854; predrying no.

      • “time to flaming (s): 3.77”

        FLAMITS record 3903; predrying yes.

    • Primary study Wyse2016: Wyse, S. V., Perry, G. L. W., O'Connell, D. M., Holland, P. S., Wright, M. J., Hosted, C. L., ... Curran, T. J. (2016). A quantitative assessment of shoot flammability for 60 tree and shrub species supports rankings based on expert opinion. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 25, 466-477.

      Shared row context: plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Wyse2016-1; sampling ND.

      • “ignition frequency (%): 100”

        FLAMITS record 14376; Ignitability measurement.

      • “maximum sample temperature (°C): 598.8”

        FLAMITS record 14436; Combustibility measurement.

      • “burning duration (s): 16.8”

        FLAMITS record 14496; Sustainability measurement.

      • “estimated burnt biomass (%): 23.1”

        FLAMITS record 14556; Consumability measurement.

    • Primary study Potts2022: Potts, E., Tng, D., Apgaua, D., Curran, T. J., Engert, J., & Laurance, S. G. (2022). Growth form and functional traits influence the shoot flammability of tropical rainforest species. Forest Ecology and Management, 522, 120485.

      Shared row context: plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Potts2022-1; sampling ND.

      • “estimated burnt biomass (%): 87”

        FLAMITS record 15032; Consumability measurement.

      • “burning duration (s): 32.58”

        FLAMITS record 15156; Sustainability measurement.

      • “maximum sample temperature (°C): 780.9”

        FLAMITS record 15280; Combustibility measurement.

    • Primary study Murray2023: Murray, B. R., Hawthorne, T., Curran, T. J., Krix, D. W., Wallace, M. I., Young, K., ... & Webb, J. K. (2023). Shoot flammability patterns among plant species of the wildland–urban interface in the fire-prone Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. International Journal of Wildland Fire, Online early.

      Shared row context: plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Murray2023-1; sampling ND.

      • “time to flaming (s): 2.5”

        FLAMITS record 19313; Ignitability measurement.

      • “burning duration (s): 30.1”

        FLAMITS record 19314; Sustainability measurement.

      • “maximum flame temperature (°C): 549.7”

        FLAMITS record 19315; Combustibility measurement.

      • “estimated burnt biomass (%): 27.5”

        FLAMITS record 19316; Consumability measurement.

Fire-resistant trees instead

post oak
Quercus stellata northern red oak
Quercus rubra Gambel oak
Quercus gambelii American basswood
Tilia americana oak
Quercus spp. Dahurian larch
Larix gmelinii

Fire-resistant trees listed above

Last verified 2026-08-23. JSON (CC BY 4.0)

Profiles: GBIF · iNaturalist · Wikidata · Wikipedia ·

Acmena smithii (Lilly Pilly). FireApproved. https://fireapproved.com/plants/acmena-smithii/. Last verified 2026-08-23.