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Common boxwood

Buxus sempervirens · 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: Fire-resistant — 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: 5 source placement records; source schemes remain separate.
Evidence regions: British Columbia; Catalonia, Spain; Global; Greece; Mediterranean France / Provence; Mediterranean southeast France; Michigan / Great Lakes; Ohio / Midwest; Valencia, Spain / western Mediterranean; Virginia / Mid-Atlantic; eastern US
Maintenance: No sourced horticultural maintenance assertion is normalized; fire-test conditions do not supply maintenance advice.

Typed publication scope: 3 scopes across 3 cited fire sources

Wildfire-resistant Landscape Plants for Michigan (Extension Bulletin E2948) · Official scoped edition
- MI; partial normalized coverage · 2007-01-01
  Michigan State University Extension Bulletin E2948 is explicitly a list of wildfire-resistant landscape plants for Michigan and includes a Michigan-native field. FireApproved publishes 221 exact GBIF owners from 226 represented source rows and holds 15 complex or non-exact rows. This dated publication scope is not a current site-suitability determination.
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 DC, DE, MD, NC, NJ, NY, OH, PA, TN, VA, WV.
Native range: No current cited or legacy state native range is normalized.
Introduced / established: 11 sourced range or established records; set a location to match them. This is not an invasive warning.
USDA hardiness: Documented range 5–8.

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.

Fire-resistant. Recommended by 4 of 5 independent primary-evidence lineages; the Eastern US Fire Performance Plant Selector dissents. The majority direction lists it — the dissent is shown in full below, never averaged away.

▲ the INRA Avignon fire laboratory · fire-tested ▲ Valencia's low-flammability guide ▲ Michigan's E2948 list ▲ Guía de pirojardinería ▼ the Eastern US Fire Performance Plant Selector ◆ Sensibilité des haies face aux incendies de forêt sous cl… · fire-tested

Computed class: Fire-resistant (majority) — derived from the cited evidence by a published rule, never hand-assigned. Each chip above is one independent primary-evidence lineage and its direction. No plant is fireproof; condition and placement govern. Zone 0 is hardscape regardless.

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.

Common boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) — Photo: (c) zebedeugalinha, some rights reserved (CC BY) (CC BY), via iNaturalist. Species-typical, not necessarily this cultivar.

Form: tree
USDA hardiness: 5–8
Mature height: ~25 ft
Light: Part sun
Grows in: DC, DE, MD, NC, NJ, NY, OH, PA +3
Rated in: British Columbia; Catalonia, Spain; Global; Greece +7
Family: Buxaceae
Evidence: 22 cited sources

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.

Current native

0

exact source areas

Current introduced

10

exact source areas

Qualified

0

doubtful or extinct source rows

10 introduced source areas · World Checklist of Vascular Plants, version 16 v16, as of 2026-06-04

Alabama (AL)
Arkansas (AR)
North Carolina (NC)
New York (NY)
Ohio (OH)
Pennsylvania (PA)
Rhode I. (RI)
Tennessee (TN)
Virginia (VA)
West Virginia (WV)

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.

Plant hardiness evidence

These values describe the plant source. Your ZIP zone comes from the separate 2023 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map. Whole-zone values stay whole-zone, and a single unresolved value is not treated as a tolerance range. Different source boundaries stay separate: overlapping statements are compared independently, while only ranges with no shared zone are called a conflict.

Eastern United States Fire Performance Plant Selector · record buxus-sempervirens · 2016-wayback · as of 2026-08-26

Source prints 6 · single-value meaning unresolved · whole zone precision · source stated

Source taxon: Buxus sempervirens · exact match.

Source location: Cold Hardiness Zone field in the recovered selector record.

Not used for comparison: The recovered selector prints one Cold Hardiness Zone value but does not define it as a minimum threshold or a one-zone range.
Wildfire-resistant Landscape Plants for Michigan (Extension Bulletin E2948) · record shrub:Buxus sempervirens · New, January 2007 · as of 2026-08-26

5–8 explicit range · whole zone precision · source stated

Source taxon: Buxus sempervirens · exact match.

Source location: Table 1, shrub row.

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.

Eastern United States Fire Performance Plant Selector: Landscape Zone 3 — 10–30 ft from the structure; thin vegetation, remove debris, and minimize plant massing [Fire Performance Plant Selector landscape zone] (mid-scale rating)
Firewise Landscaping: do not plant within 5 ft of structures (keep out of Zone 1) [OSU B921 source-category siting] (with its avoid rating)
Guía de pirojardinería: suitable inside or outside the 25-metre maximum-risk zone [girona-2020-iuf-25m-suitability] (with its recommendation)
Les franges perimetrals de protecció contra els incendis …: page 4 species-selection panel [catalonia-perimeter-strip-maintain-remove] (with its recommendation)
Κανονισμός Πυροπροστασίας Ακινήτων εντός ή πλησίον δασικώ…: section 5.4.2, Table 2δi [greece-2023-particularly-flammable] (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.

Recommends (6)

FireSmart BC Plant Program — fire-resistant plant chart — FireSmart BC · original source Corroboration Compilation lineage: firesmart-bc-plant-database

“FireSmart-approved fire-resistant plant”

Flagged by FireSmart BC as needing more research.
Inflammabilités des espèces forestières méditerranéennes (Valette 1990) — INRA Station de Sylviculture méditerranéenne, Avignon (Revue Forestière Française XLII) · 1990 · original source Primary evidence Lab-tested lineage: inra-tree

“INRA inflammability note 2 of 5 (July-September maximum)” · score 2 (inra-0-5)

Monthly inflammability notes May-April: 0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2 (epiradiator tests, INRA Avignon).

Source wording: “modérément inflammable”
Jardinería de baja inflamabilidad para las zonas de interfaz urbano-forestal — Generalitat Valenciana · 2019 · original source Primary evidence Expert-curated

“recommended low-flammability species (shrubs, native/forest column)”

Source wording: “especies recomendadas”
Wildfire-resistant Landscape Plants for Michigan (Extension Bulletin E2948) — Michigan State University Extension (Hansen, Fernandez) · New, January 2007 · original source Primary evidence Expert-curated

“considered wildfire-resistant and are recommended for Michigan’s climate”

Table 1 row: Buxus sempervirens (Common boxwood).
Guía de pirojardinería — guía práctica de jardinería adaptada a la prevención de incendios forestales — Diputació de Girona and Bombers de la Generalitat de Catalunya · 2020 Spanish edition · original source Primary evidence Expert-curated lineage: elvira-hernando-1989 + cooperem-tree

“MUY RECOMENDADA”

Buxus sempervirens is rated “MUY RECOMENDADA” by the guide's qualitative IUF garden-suitability method. The method assumes species-specific care and integrates fire evidence with fuel structure, maintenance, origin, invasiveness, and expert fire-service experience.
Les franges perimetrals de protecció contra els incendis forestals — Diputació de Barcelona and CREAF · 2025 web edition · original source Corroboration Regulation lineage: gencat-decret-123-2005

“Cal mantenir prioritàriament les espècies menys inflamables. — Boix — Buxus sempervirens”

The guide says to maintain this printed taxon first among the less-flammable species when opening and maintaining perimeter protection strips.

Avoids (3)

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”

Marginally cold hardy; uniform growth; urban tolerant.
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 (evergreen shrubs); H (evergreen shrubs)”

evergreen shrubs: Leaves and stems toxic to livestock. Applications of lime are required for plant vigor. evergreen shrubs: Needs well drained soil.
Κανονισμός Πυροπροστασίας Ακινήτων εντός ή πλησίον δασικών εκτάσεων — Hellenic Ministry of Environment and Energy · FEK B 3475/2023 · original source Corroboration Regulation

“ΙΔΙΑΙΤΕΡΑ ΕΥΦΛΕΚΤΑ ΕΝΔΗΜΙΚΑ ΦΥΤΑ — Buxus sempervirens”

The regulation prints this taxon in its table of particularly flammable endemic trees and shrubs.

Mid-scale / conditional (2)

Eastern United States Fire Performance Plant Selector — USDA Forest Service Northeastern Area S&PF + state Firewise programs (WV, OH, PA, DE, DC, MD, NJ) · 2016-wayback · original source Primary evidence Keyed curation lineage: ufifas-srs-tree

“AT RISK Firewise (3)”

Plant vigor reduced when not planted in alkaline soils.
Sensibilité des haies face aux incendies de forêt sous climat méditerranéen — Office national des forêts, Direction territoriale Méditerranée · 2012 · original source Primary evidence Lab-tested lineage: onf-pyrosudoe-tree

“Moyenne fire sensitivity”

The fiche's overall sensitivity combines experimental-bench inflammability, intensity, and combustion measurements with foresters' observations of fire damage.

Source wording: “Sensibilité au feu : Moyenne”

Listed without a rating (11)

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

11 cited rows from this source; its identity, lineage and tier are stated once.
- “time to flaming (s): 23” · score 23 (FLAMITS — time to flaming (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 7591; Ignitability measurement; plant part twigs; fuel live; predrying yes; device epiradiator; site Martin1989-3; sampling june. Primary study Martin1989: Martín, E., & Miguel, L. (1989). Inflamabilidad y energía de las especies de sotobosque
- “time to flaming (s): 28” · score 28 (FLAMITS — time to flaming (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 7592; Ignitability measurement; plant part twigs; fuel live; predrying yes; device epiradiator; site Martin1989-3; sampling july. Primary study Martin1989: Martín, E., & Miguel, L. (1989). Inflamabilidad y energía de las especies de sotobosque
- “time to flaming (s): 33” · score 33 (FLAMITS — time to flaming (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 7593; Ignitability measurement; plant part twigs; fuel live; predrying yes; device epiradiator; site Martin1989-3; sampling september. Primary study Martin1989: Martín, E., & Miguel, L. (1989). Inflamabilidad y energía de las especies de sotobosque
- “time to flaming (s): 44” · score 44 (FLAMITS — time to flaming (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 7594; Ignitability measurement; plant part twigs; fuel live; predrying yes; device epiradiator; site Martin1989-3; sampling november. Primary study Martin1989: Martín, E., & Miguel, L. (1989). Inflamabilidad y energía de las especies de sotobosque
- “calorific value (kcal/kg): 5123” · score 5123 (FLAMITS — calorific value (kcal/kg))
  
  FLAMITS record 7882; Combustibility measurement; plant part twigs; fuel live; predrying yes; device epiradiator; site Martin1989-3; sampling ND. Primary study Martin1989: Martín, E., & Miguel, L. (1989). Inflamabilidad y energía de las especies de sotobosque
- “flammability value: 2” · score 2 (FLAMITS — flammability value)
  
  FLAMITS record 7929; Ignitability measurement; plant part twigs; fuel live; predrying yes; device epiradiator; site Martin1989-3; sampling ND. Primary study Martin1989: Martín, E., & Miguel, L. (1989). Inflamabilidad y energía de las especies de sotobosque
- “ignition frequency (%): 94” · score 94 (FLAMITS — ignition frequency (%))
  
  FLAMITS record 7990; Ignitability measurement; plant part twigs; fuel live; predrying yes; device epiradiator; site Martin1989-3; sampling june. Primary study Martin1989: Martín, E., & Miguel, L. (1989). Inflamabilidad y energía de las especies de sotobosque
- “ignition frequency (%): 96” · score 96 (FLAMITS — ignition frequency (%))
  
  FLAMITS record 7991; Ignitability measurement; plant part twigs; fuel live; predrying yes; device epiradiator; site Martin1989-3; sampling july. Primary study Martin1989: Martín, E., & Miguel, L. (1989). Inflamabilidad y energía de las especies de sotobosque
- “ignition frequency (%): 89” · score 89 (FLAMITS — ignition frequency (%))
  
  FLAMITS record 7992; Ignitability measurement; plant part twigs; fuel live; predrying yes; device epiradiator; site Martin1989-3; sampling september. Primary study Martin1989: Martín, E., & Miguel, L. (1989). Inflamabilidad y energía de las especies de sotobosque
- “ignition frequency (%): 79” · score 79 (FLAMITS — ignition frequency (%))
  
  FLAMITS record 7993; Ignitability measurement; plant part twigs; fuel live; predrying yes; device epiradiator; site Martin1989-3; sampling november. Primary study Martin1989: Martín, E., & Miguel, L. (1989). Inflamabilidad y energía de las especies de sotobosque
- “flammability value: 2” · score 2 (FLAMITS — flammability value)
  
  FLAMITS record 13310; Ignitability measurement; plant part leaves; fuel live; predrying no; device epiradiator; site Valette1990-1; sampling june to september. Primary study Valette1990: Valette, J.-C. (1990). Flammabilities of Mediterranean forest species. Effects on the combustibility of the forest communities inflammabilités des espèces forestières méditerranéennes. Conséquences sur la combustibilité des formations forestières. Revue forestière française, 42, 76-92.

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

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Buxus sempervirens (Common boxwood). FireApproved. https://fireapproved.com/plants/buxus-sempervirens/. Last verified 2026-08-23.