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Whitebrush has been tested, but its measurements do not establish that it is fire resistant.
Researchers at IMBIV-CONICET and the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba reported a compound flammability index of 0.91, averaged across six shrub samples. Their index runs from zero toward roughly three, but the paper sets no cutoff for calling a plant fire resistant. The decimal is a test result; turning it into a planting recommendation would require a judgment the researchers did not make.
The testing procedure gives that number its context. Fresh field samples were preheated for two minutes at 150 °C, then exposed to a blowtorch for ten seconds. Whitebrush reached a mean maximum sample temperature of 232 °C. That measures how hot the samples became during testing, rather than the temperature at which whitebrush ignites. These measurements describe the response of sampled shoots to a particular heating procedure and cannot by themselves establish how a whole shrub will behave during a wildfire.
The FLAMITS database also carries the 232 °C result, traced to the same 2011 study. Its appearance in a second publication does not represent another test confirming resistance. Whitebrush, or Aloysia gratissima, is a shrub native to the southwestern and south-central United States. For a homeowner choosing it for that setting, the unresolved question is how its measured burning behavior translates into fire resistance under garden conditions.
Form
shrub
Region
Argentina
Rated in
Global; Western Chaco, Córdoba Province, Argentina
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; Western Chaco, Córdoba Province, Argentina
Maintenance
2. Why this plant is relevant here
State distribution
Native range
Current cited native range in AZ, NM, TX.
Introduced / established
USDA hardiness
3. Legal, ecological, and broader status
Legal-list status
Seed-list status
Reported invasive here
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.
Appendix S5 mean across six shrub-form replicates for Aloysia gratissima: MT 232 °C; BL 3.8 cm; BT 30 s; BR 0.14 cm/s; BB 1.83 on the six-category interval scale. Fresh field samples were preheated for 2 min at 150 °C and exposed to the blowtorch for 10 s. The paper gives no directional FL threshold.
5 cited rows from this source; its identity, lineage and tier are stated once.
Primary study Jaureguiberry2011: Jaureguiberry, P., Bertone, G., & Díaz, S. (2011). Device for the standard measurement of shoot flammability in the field. Austral Ecology, 36, 821-829.
Shared row context: plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Jaureguiberry2011-1; sampling september.
