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Capeweed is rated fire resistant, with one field trial and three compiled or mirrored sources favoring its use.
The Los Angeles State & County Arboretum placed Capeweed in Category 2 among recommended low-growing plants. That category represents 80–95% leaf-moisture capacity under normal garden conditions at the Arboretum. The USDA Forest Service also classed Capeweed “High” in a system based on fuel volume, inherent plant flammability, and ease of fire spread.
The University of California Forest Products Laboratory reported Capeweed recommended by 25 earlier references for use in high-fire-risk areas. The Diablo Firesafe Council placed it among plants receiving favorable fire-performance ratings from at least three references and cited 25 references for Capeweed. These compilations are not additional field trials. The University report cautions that many underlying lists lack a scientific basis or use undefined terms, while the Diablo council says most ranking terms in its sources were undefined. The agreement is broad, but the primary evidence remains limited.
The guide presents itself as fire performance ratings for common landscape plants in a fire-prone California setting. FireApproved publishes 104 exact owners as republished California context. It is not an independent rating, a current endorsement, or parcel suitability.
The UC Forest Products Laboratory says the guide covers properties of common California landscaping plants and was prepared for California fire agencies. FireApproved publishes 130 exact owners at historical California publication scope. The report is a 1997 compilation, not a current endorsement, site rating, or independent test of every row.
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
1 legal-list record; the Place chip matches exact scope.
Seed-list status
1 state noxious-weed seed record; the Place chip matches exact scope.
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.
Conditions in the fire evidence
These describe tested or rated plant material. They are not horticultural maintenance instructions.
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.
Fire-Retardant Plants for Brush Fire Prevention in Hillsi…: Category 2 [la-arboretum-1970-leaf-moisture-fire-retardance] (with its recommendation)
Defensible Space Landscaping in the Urban/Wildland Interf…: Chapter 4, Landscape Vegetation Database [ucfpl-1997] (with its recommendation)
Fire Performance of Common Plants: Table 1 (favorable in 3 or more references) [diablo-guide-to-plants-three-reference-vote] (with its recommendation)
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.
“CATEGORY 2 — Non-succulent plants, high leaf moisture content capacity (80-95%)”
· condition: green
Arctotheca calendula (Cape Weed) is one of 30 low-growing plants in the source's recommended Table 1. The category reflects leaf moisture capacity under normal garden conditions at the Arboretum.
Table 5 rates this low-growing southern California landscape entry by fuel volume, inherent plant flammability, and ease of fire spread.
Fire Performance of Common Plants (Guide to Plants) — Diablo Firesafe Council · live page captured 2026-08-29 · original sourceCorroborationMirrorlineage: ucfpl-berkeley resolves to Defensible Space Landscaping in the Urban/Wildland Interface: A Compilation of Fire Performance Ratings of Residential Landscape Plants
“Table 1: favorable fire performance rating in 3 or more references (refs 7,8,9,10,11,12,18,20,21,23,24,25,26, 28,30,31,34,35,36,37,38,40,41,42,53)”
The Diablo Firesafe Council Guide to Plants lists Arctotheca calendula (Silver spreader) as groundcover, evergreen, in Table 1: plants with a favorable fire performance rating in 3 or more references. The guide cites 25 of its 57 numbered references for this row (7,8,9,10,11,12,18,20,21,23,24,25,26, 28,30,31,34,35,36,37,38,40,41,42,53). The guide states the ranking terms in its underlying references were mostly undefined and makes no attempt to rank within the list, and that fire performance is compromised without maintenance.