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Bottlebrush

Callistemon rigidus · Myrtaceae · all Callistemon 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: 0 source placement records; source schemes remain separate.
Evidence regions: Global; New Zealand
Maintenance: No sourced horticultural maintenance assertion is normalized; fire-test conditions do not supply maintenance advice.

2. Why this plant is relevant here

State distribution: No state distribution is normalized.
Native range: No current cited or legacy state native range is normalized.
Introduced / established: No introduced or established row is normalized; that does not prove native status.
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.

Bottlebrush (Callistemon rigidus) — Photo: (c) Tony Rebelo, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), uploaded by Tony Rebelo (CC BY-SA), via iNaturalist. Species-typical, not necessarily this cultivar.

Form: shrub
Region: New Zealand
Rated in: Global; New Zealand
Uses: ornamental
Family: Myrtaceae
Evidence: 10 cited sources

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 (1)

A quantitative assessment of shoot flammability for 60 tree and shrub species — International Journal of Wildland Fire (Wyse, Perry, O'Connell, Holland, Wright, Hosted, Whitelock, Geary, Maurin, Curran) · 2016 · original source Primary evidence Lab-tested lineage: lincoln-nz-tree

“High flammability category (Fig. 2)”

Shoot category from the paper's cluster analysis; samples were air-dried for 24 hours before testing.

Mid-scale / conditional (1)

Low Flammability Plants directory — Fire and Emergency New Zealand (plant flammability testing at Lincoln University) · 2026 · original source Primary evidence Lab-tested lineage: lincoln-nz-tree

“Moderate/high flammability”

Moderate/high flammability classification.

Listed without a rating (8)

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

8 cited rows from this source; its identity, lineage and tier are stated once.
- “ignition frequency (%): 100” · score 100 (FLAMITS — ignition frequency (%))
  
  FLAMITS record 1347; Ignitability measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Cui2020a-1; sampling ND. Primary study Cui2020a: Cui, X., Paterson, A. M., Wyse, S. V., Alam, M. A., Maurin, K. J. L., Pieper, R., ... Curran, T. J. (2020a). Shoot flammability of vascular plants is phylogenetically conserved and related to habitat fire-proneness and growth form. Nature Plants, 6, 355-359.
- “maximum sample temperature (°C): 613” · score 613 (FLAMITS — maximum sample temperature (°C))
  
  FLAMITS record 1541; Combustibility measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Cui2020a-1; sampling ND. Primary study Cui2020a: Cui, X., Paterson, A. M., Wyse, S. V., Alam, M. A., Maurin, K. J. L., Pieper, R., ... Curran, T. J. (2020a). Shoot flammability of vascular plants is phylogenetically conserved and related to habitat fire-proneness and growth form. Nature Plants, 6, 355-359.
- “burning duration (s): 25.1” · score 25.1 (FLAMITS — burning duration (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 1735; Sustainability measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Cui2020a-1; sampling ND. Primary study Cui2020a: Cui, X., Paterson, A. M., Wyse, S. V., Alam, M. A., Maurin, K. J. L., Pieper, R., ... Curran, T. J. (2020a). Shoot flammability of vascular plants is phylogenetically conserved and related to habitat fire-proneness and growth form. Nature Plants, 6, 355-359.
- “estimated burnt biomass (%): 38.1” · score 38.1 (FLAMITS — estimated burnt biomass (%))
  
  FLAMITS record 1929; Consumability measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Cui2020a-1; sampling ND. Primary study Cui2020a: Cui, X., Paterson, A. M., Wyse, S. V., Alam, M. A., Maurin, K. J. L., Pieper, R., ... Curran, T. J. (2020a). Shoot flammability of vascular plants is phylogenetically conserved and related to habitat fire-proneness and growth form. Nature Plants, 6, 355-359.
- “ignition frequency (%): 100” · score 100 (FLAMITS — ignition frequency (%))
  
  FLAMITS record 14325; Ignitability measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Wyse2016-1; sampling ND. Primary study Wyse2016: Wyse, S. V., Perry, G. L. W., O'Connell, D. M., Holland, P. S., Wright, M. J., Hosted, C. L., ... Curran, T. J. (2016). A quantitative assessment of shoot flammability for 60 tree and shrub species supports rankings based on expert opinion. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 25, 466-477.
- “maximum sample temperature (°C): 613” · score 613 (FLAMITS — maximum sample temperature (°C))
  
  FLAMITS record 14385; Combustibility measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Wyse2016-1; sampling ND. Primary study Wyse2016: Wyse, S. V., Perry, G. L. W., O'Connell, D. M., Holland, P. S., Wright, M. J., Hosted, C. L., ... Curran, T. J. (2016). A quantitative assessment of shoot flammability for 60 tree and shrub species supports rankings based on expert opinion. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 25, 466-477.
- “burning duration (s): 25.1” · score 25.1 (FLAMITS — burning duration (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 14445; Sustainability measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Wyse2016-1; sampling ND. Primary study Wyse2016: Wyse, S. V., Perry, G. L. W., O'Connell, D. M., Holland, P. S., Wright, M. J., Hosted, C. L., ... Curran, T. J. (2016). A quantitative assessment of shoot flammability for 60 tree and shrub species supports rankings based on expert opinion. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 25, 466-477.
- “estimated burnt biomass (%): 38.1” · score 38.1 (FLAMITS — estimated burnt biomass (%))
  
  FLAMITS record 14505; Consumability measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Wyse2016-1; sampling ND. Primary study Wyse2016: Wyse, S. V., Perry, G. L. W., O'Connell, D. M., Holland, P. S., Wright, M. J., Hosted, C. L., ... Curran, T. J. (2016). A quantitative assessment of shoot flammability for 60 tree and shrub species supports rankings based on expert opinion. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 25, 466-477.

Fire-resistant shrubs instead

Mastic
Pistacia lentiscus

Cistus salviifolius
Cistus salvaefolius

Creeping Myoporum
Myoporum parvifolium

Kinnikinnick
Arctostaphylos uva-ursi

Kurrajong
Brachychiton populneus

Calicotome spinosa
Calycotoma spinosa

Fire-resistant shrubs listed above

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

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

Callistemon rigidus (Bottlebrush). FireApproved. https://fireapproved.com/plants/callistemon-rigidus/. Last verified 2026-08-23.