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Callistemon

Callistemon sp. (accepted: Callistemon) · 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: Mixed evidence — 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: 3 source placement records; source schemes remain separate.
Evidence regions: California; Dorset, United Kingdom; Global; South Carolina; Valencia, Spain / western Mediterranean; eastern 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

Defensible Space Landscaping in the Urban/Wildland Interface: A Compilation of Fire Performance Ratings of Residential Landscape Plants · Official scoped edition
- CA; partial normalized coverage · 1997-07-01
  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.
Landscaping Can Be Attractive & FIREWISE (Fire Smart Plant List for SC) · Official scoped edition
- SC; partial normalized coverage
  South Carolina Forestry Commission publishes this explicitly as its Fire Smart Plant List for South Carolina. FireApproved publishes 63 exact genus owners from 72 unique common-name labels; unsafe common-name mappings and duplicates are not broadened. The brochure calls the list non-inclusive and does not establish species-level or site-specific suitability.

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.

Callistemon (Callistemon sp.) — Photo: (c) Maja Dumat, some rights reserved (CC BY) (CC BY), via iNaturalist. Species-typical, not necessarily this cultivar.

Form: shrub
Region: Australia; Valencia, Spain
Rated in: California; Dorset, United Kingdom; Global; South Carolina +2
Family: Myrtaceae
Evidence: 7 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.

Eastern United States Fire Performance Plant Selector: Master Plant DB row 233 [lwf-2024-fps-carrier] (mid-scale rating)
Defensible Space Landscaping in the Urban/Wildland Interf…: Chapter 4, Landscape Vegetation Database [ucfpl-1997] (with its recommendation)
Landscaping Can Be Attractive & FIREWISE: SHRUBS [SCFC Fire Smart plant-form sections] (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.

Avoids (1)

Protecting your home from wildfire — plants and tips that can reduce your risk — Dorset Heaths Partnership / Firewise UK / University of Exeter wildFIRE Lab · 2024-10 · original source Primary evidence Lab-tested lineage: exeter-wildfire-tree

“Red traffic-light class — Calistemon”

The leaflet rates the group at genus level (dead, dry parts can produce flames over 2.5 m; keep away from the home or shed).

Mid-scale / conditional (1)

Eastern United States Fire Performance Plant Selector — USDA Forest Service Northeastern Area S&PF + state Firewise programs (WV, OH, PA, DE, DC, MD, NJ) · 2024-03-05 carrier workbook · original source Primary evidence Keyed curation lineage: ufifas-srs-tree

“M”

Living With Fire workbook row 233 attributes this value to FPS.

Listed without a rating (2)

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

2 cited rows from this source; its identity, lineage and tier are stated once.
- “time to flaming (s): 34.2” · score 34.2 (FLAMITS — time to flaming (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 3823; Ignitability measurement; plant part leaves; fuel live; predrying no; device muffle furnace; site Gill1996-1; sampling march to april. Primary study Gill1996: Gill, M., & Moore, P. (1996). Ignitibility of leaves of Australian plants. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, CSIRO Plant Industry.
- “time to flaming (s): 6.81” · score 6.81 (FLAMITS — time to flaming (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 3871; Ignitability measurement; plant part leaves; fuel live; predrying yes; device muffle furnace; site Gill1996-1; sampling march to april. Primary study Gill1996: Gill, M., & Moore, P. (1996). Ignitibility of leaves of Australian plants. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, CSIRO Plant Industry.

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