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A measured ignition time does not establish Mauritanian grass as fire resistant.
The FLAMITS database, published through Dryad and Global Ecology and Biogeography, reports 3.19 seconds to flaming for litter classified as live fuel, tested using an epiradiator. The material was sampled in February. The result describes how long that material took to begin flaming under the test conditions.
The distinction matters because ignition is only part of fire behavior. Time to flaming does not measure how much heat material releases after it catches fire, and a result for sampled litter cannot by itself establish how a whole planting would behave. FLAMITS preserves the experimental context and the original study reference alongside its numbers. It does not apply a universal threshold that converts measurements across different variables, devices and plant parts into a fire-resistance rating. Reading those seconds as either approval or rejection would add a judgment the database does not make.
Mauritanian grass, Ampelodesmos mauritanicus, belongs to the grass family, Poaceae, and is introduced in California. It also has an invasive designation, a separate consideration from its response to heat. For someone choosing vegetation around a home, the ignition result is useful information, but it leaves fire resistance unresolved.
Form
grass
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 CA.
Native range
Introduced / established
1 sourced range or established record. This is not an invasive warning.
USDA hardiness
3. Legal, ecological, and broader status
Legal-list status
Seed-list status
Reported invasive here
1 ecological invasive report.
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 (11)Corroboration (11 rows from 1 source)
11 cited rows from this source; its identity, lineage and tier are stated once.
Primary study Grigulis2005: Grigulis, K., Lavorel, S., Davies, I., Dossantos, A., Lloret, F., & Vilà, M. (2005). Landscape positive feedbacks between fire and expansion of a tussock grass in Mediterranean shrublands. Global Change Biology, 11, 1042-1053.
Shared row context: Ignitability measurement; plant part litter; fuel live; predrying no; device epiradiator; site Grigulis2005-1; sampling february.
“time to flaming (s): 3.19”
FLAMITS record 4050.
“time to flaming (s): 10.94”
FLAMITS record 4051.
Primary study Henaoui2013: Henaoui, S. E. -A., Bouazza, M., & Amara, M. (2013). The fire risk of the plant groupings with Cistus in the area of Tlemcen (Western Algeria). European Scientific Journal, 9, 84-103.
Shared row context: plant part twigs; fuel live; predrying yes; device infrared burner; site Henaoui2013-1; sampling spring.
“flame height (cm): 34.09”
FLAMITS record 4870; Combustibility measurement.
“time to flaming (s): 62.66”
FLAMITS record 4908; Ignitability measurement.
“burning duration (s): 96.65”
FLAMITS record 4946; Sustainability measurement.
Primary study Massari1998: Massari, G., & Leopaldi, A. (1998). Leaf flammability in Mediterranean species. Plant Biosystems - An International Journal Dealing with all Aspects of Plant Biology, 132, 29-38.
Shared row context: plant part leaves; fuel live; predrying yes; device epiradiator; site Massari1998-1; sampling ND.
