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Buxus microphylla

Buxus microphylla var. koreana (accepted: Buxus microphylla) · Buxaceae · all Buxus records

Your local evidence lens

Separate evidence questions, never one approval badge

Set a ZIP to compare this record with state distribution, native range, USDA hardiness, and invasive records.

A genus split is not a placement verdict. Set a ZIP to read the local documented split.

1. Fire evidence and conditions

Fire evidence: Highly flammable — location does not change the cited classification.
Fire-performance conditions: No test or rating condition is normalized.
Fire ecology context: No section-reviewed fire-ecology context is normalized.
Placement evidence: 1 source placement record; source schemes remain separate.
Evidence regions: British Columbia; Global; Ohio / Midwest; Virginia / Mid-Atlantic; southeastern US
Maintenance: No sourced horticultural maintenance assertion is normalized; fire-test conditions do not supply maintenance advice.

Typed publication scope: 2 scopes across 2 cited fire sources

Firewise Landscaping (OSU Extension Bulletin 921) · Official scoped edition
- OH; partial normalized coverage · 2006-03-01
  Ohio State University Extension Bulletin 921 is an Ohio publication that describes Ohio fire seasons and landscape conditions and labels nativity to Ohio. FireApproved publishes 352 exact source-owning plant records from its eight rated tables. This historical publication scope does not assert current extension endorsement or that a listed plant suits every Ohio site.
Virginia Firescapes — Firewise Landscaping for Woodland Homes (430-300) · Official scoped edition
- VA; partial normalized coverage · 2009-04-15
  Virginia Cooperative Extension's publication opens with Virginia wildfire conditions, identifies its Virginia Firewise Landscaping Task Force, and labels plants native to Virginia. FireApproved publishes 306 exact source owners. Publication scope does not establish parcel suitability or current endorsement of this archived 2009 list.

2. Why this plant is relevant here

State distribution: Documented in FL, GA, SC, NC, AL, MS, LA, TX.
Native range: No current cited or legacy state native range is normalized.
Introduced / established: 1 sourced range or established record; set a location to match them. This is not an invasive warning.
USDA hardiness: No hardiness value is normalized.

3. Legal, ecological, and broader status

Legal-list status: Set a location for an exact legal-list result; source silence is not clearance.
Seed-list status: Set a location to compare the separate state noxious-weed seed layer.
Reported invasive here: No ecological invasive report is normalized; that does not prove noninvasiveness.
Broader regional context: Aggregate AK, HI, and L48 evidence is shown only as regional context, never as an exact-state finding.
Federal context: Federal designations remain separate from state legal-list results.

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.

Buxus microphylla (Buxus microphylla var. koreana) — Photo: (c) Marco Mussita, some rights reserved (CC BY) (CC BY), via iNaturalist. Species-typical, not necessarily this cultivar.

Form: shrub
Grows in: FL, GA, SC, NC, AL, MS, LA, TX
Rated in: British Columbia; Global; Ohio / Midwest; Virginia / Mid-Atlantic +1
Family: Buxaceae
Evidence: 8 cited sources

Where its sources say to plant it

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.

Firewise Landscaping: do not plant within 5 ft of structures (keep out of Zone 1) [OSU B921 source-category siting] (with its avoid rating)

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.

Avoids (2)

Firewise Landscaping (OSU Extension Bulletin 921) — Ohio State University Extension (Sydnor, Steward, Kloss / Ohio DNR Division of Forestry) · 2006 · original source Primary evidence Expert-curated lineage: ufifas-srs-tree

“H flammability”

Irregular growth pattern; urban tolerant; nematode sensitive.
Virginia Firescapes — Firewise Landscaping for Woodland Homes (430-300) — Virginia Cooperative Extension / Virginia Tech (Appleton, Frenzel, Hillegass, Lyons, Steward — Virginia Firewise Landscaping Task Force) · 2009 · original source Primary evidence Expert-curated lineage: ufifas-srs-tree

“H flammability”

Partially tolerant of drought and heat.

Mid-scale / conditional (1)

Quantifying and ranking the flammability of ornamental shrubs in the southern United States — USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station + NIST (Long, Behm, Zipperer, Hermansen, Maranghides, Mell) · 2006 · original source Primary evidence Lab-tested lineage: ufifas-srs-tree

“Moderate flammability (whole-plant burns, NIST BFRL)”

Listed without a rating (4)

FLAMITS: FLAMmability plant traiTS database — Dryad / Global Ecology and Biogeography · Dryad version 9 · original source Corroboration Trait database lineage: meta-aggregator

4 cited rows from this source; its identity, lineage and tier are stated once.
- “time to flaming (s): 4.55” · score 4.55 (FLAMITS — time to flaming (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 19341; Ignitability measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Murray2023-1; sampling ND. Primary study Murray2023: Murray, B. R., Hawthorne, T., Curran, T. J., Krix, D. W., Wallace, M. I., Young, K., ... & Webb, J. K. (2023). Shoot flammability patterns among plant species of the wildlandurban interface in the fire-prone Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. International Journal of Wildland Fire, Online early.
- “burning duration (s): 2” · score 2 (FLAMITS — burning duration (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 19342; Sustainability measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Murray2023-1; sampling ND. Primary study Murray2023: Murray, B. R., Hawthorne, T., Curran, T. J., Krix, D. W., Wallace, M. I., Young, K., ... & Webb, J. K. (2023). Shoot flammability patterns among plant species of the wildlandurban interface in the fire-prone Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. International Journal of Wildland Fire, Online early.
- “maximum flame temperature (°C): 222.33” · score 222.33 (FLAMITS — maximum flame temperature (°C))
  
  FLAMITS record 19343; Combustibility measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Murray2023-1; sampling ND. Primary study Murray2023: Murray, B. R., Hawthorne, T., Curran, T. J., Krix, D. W., Wallace, M. I., Young, K., ... & Webb, J. K. (2023). Shoot flammability patterns among plant species of the wildlandurban interface in the fire-prone Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. International Journal of Wildland Fire, Online early.
- “estimated burnt biomass (%): 2.66” · score 2.66 (FLAMITS — estimated burnt biomass (%))
  
  FLAMITS record 19344; Consumability measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Murray2023-1; sampling ND. Primary study Murray2023: Murray, B. R., Hawthorne, T., Curran, T. J., Krix, D. W., Wallace, M. I., Young, K., ... & Webb, J. K. (2023). Shoot flammability patterns among plant species of the wildlandurban interface in the fire-prone Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. International Journal of Wildland Fire, Online early.

Fire-resistant shrubs instead

High bush blueberry
Vaccinium corymbosum

American beautyberry
Callicarpa americana

Common witchhazel
Hamamelis virginiana

Winterberry holly
Ilex verticillata

Southern arrowood viburnum
Viburnum dentatum

Summersweet
Clethra alnifolia

Fire-resistant shrubs listed above

Last verified 2026-08-23. JSON (CC BY 4.0)

Profiles: USDA PLANTS · GBIF · iNaturalist · Wikidata · ITIS

Buxus microphylla var. koreana (Buxus microphylla). FireApproved. https://fireapproved.com/plants/buxus-microphylla-var-koreana/. Last verified 2026-08-23.