United States / Grow / cockatoo grass

cockatoo grass

Alloteropsis semialata · Poaceae · also called Alloteropsis semialata · Wikipedia

View Saved

Is this one for your yard?

Enter your ZIP to see whether this is legal to plant in your state, and whether it survives your winter.

Form
grass
Region
South Africa
Rated in
Global
On this lot

1. Fire evidence and conditions

Fire evidence
Mixed evidence — location does not change the cited classification.
Evidence regions
Global

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.

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 (9)
Corroboration (9 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

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

    • Primary study Simpson2016: Simpson, K. J., Ripley, B. S., Christin, P. A., Belcher, C. M., Lehmann, C. E., Thomas, G. H., & Osborne, C P. (2016). Determinants of flammability in savanna grass species. Journal of Ecology, 104, 138-148.

      Shared row context: plant part leaves; device epiradiator; site Simpson2016-1; sampling july.

      • “time to flaming (s): 1.58”

        FLAMITS record 12760; Ignitability measurement; fuel dead; predrying no.

      • “mass loss rate (g/s): 0.03”

        FLAMITS record 12762; Combustibility measurement; fuel dead; predrying no.

      • “flaming duration (s): 5.92”

        FLAMITS record 12764; Sustainability measurement; fuel dead; predrying no.

      • “time to flaming (s): 2.19”

        FLAMITS record 12766; Ignitability measurement; fuel live; predrying no.

      • “time to flaming (s): 1.38”

        FLAMITS record 12767; Ignitability measurement; fuel live; predrying yes.

      • “mass loss rate (g/s): 0.02”

        FLAMITS record 12820; Combustibility measurement; fuel live; predrying no.

      • “mass loss rate (g/s): 0.03”

        FLAMITS record 12821; Combustibility measurement; fuel live; predrying yes.

      • “flaming duration (s): 7.12”

        FLAMITS record 12868; Sustainability measurement; fuel live; predrying no.

      • “flaming duration (s): 5.86”

        FLAMITS record 12869; Sustainability measurement; fuel live; predrying yes.

Fire-resistant grasss instead

Last verified 2026-08-25. JSON (CC BY 4.0)

Profiles: GBIF · iNaturalist · Wikidata · Wikipedia ·

Alloteropsis semialata (Alloteropsis semialata). FireApproved. https://fireapproved.com/plants/alloteropsis-semialata/. Last verified 2026-08-25.