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Paperflower is rated fire resistant, though the finding comes from laboratory tests of fresh, live plant material.
In 2016, Pesquisa Florestal Brasileira classified paperflower as “poorly flammable,” with a flammability value of 0. Valette’s 0-to-5 scale places values of 0 and 1 in the recommended range. The separate combustion-intensity index was 2, but that measurement does not determine the recommendation.
Researchers burned freshly collected green leaves and fine branches under 0.7 centimetres in diameter within two hours of collection. Only 10 percent of the 50 samples ignited within the 60-second cutoff. Across all runs, flame duration averaged 0.7 seconds and flame height averaged 1.2 centimetres. The reported mean ignition time of 59.6 seconds includes nonigniting samples assigned a value of 61 seconds, so it is not the average for only the samples that caught fire.
A separate global trait database recorded 59.74 seconds to flaming for live leaves tested without being dried before the test, using a 500 W heater at 350°C plus a flame. Fuel moisture was not reported, and the database preserves this as a measurement rather than turning it into a recommendation. The clearest conclusion is a qualified yes: paperflower performed well with fresh leaves and fine branches under the stated methods, but those tests do not describe an entire vine under every moisture condition.
Form
vine
Rated in
Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil; Global
On this lot
1. Fire evidence and conditions
Fire evidence
Fire-resistant — location does not change the cited classification.
Fire-performance conditions
1 condition stated in cited fire-evidence rows.
Fire ecology context
Placement evidence
Evidence regions
Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil; Global
Maintenance
2. Why this plant is relevant here
State distribution
Documented in FL, PR, TX, VI.
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.
Conditions in the fire evidence
These describe tested or rated plant material. They are not horticultural maintenance instructions.
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.
17 cited rows from this source; its identity, lineage and tier are stated once.
Primary study Batista2020: Batista, A.C., Biondi, D., & Martini, A. (2020). Flammability of ornamental species for fire management in wildland-urban interface in Paraná state. Floresta, 51, 192-200.
Shared row context: plant part leaves; fuel live; predrying no; device epiradiator; site Batista2020-1; sampling ND.
Primary study Kovalsyki2017: Kovalsyki, B., Takashina, I. K., Tres, A., Tetto, A .F., & Batista, A. C. (2016). Inflamabilidade de espécies arbóreas para uso em cortinas de segurança na prevenção de incêndios florestais. Pesquisa florestal brasileira, 36, 387-391.
Shared row context: plant part leaves; fuel live; predrying no; device epiradiator; site Kovalsyki2017-1; sampling ND.
Primary study Santos2018a: Santos, J. F. L., Batista, A. C., Tres, A., Tetto, A. F., & Kovalsyki, B. (2018a). Flammability and combustibility of potential species for use as fuel breaks. In: D. X. Viegas, Advances in Forest Fire Research 2018 (pp. 788-793), Portugal, University of Coimbra.
Shared row context: plant part twigs; fuel live; predrying no; device epiradiator; site Santos2018a-1; sampling ND.
