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Black Fountaingrass has concerning flammability ratings, but it does not yet have a settled fire-resistance verdict.
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension in Travis County lists dwarf fountain grass, under the name Pennisetum alopecuroides, among plants to avoid in Zone 1, within 30 feet of a structure. Its Austin-area guidance says these plants should be restricted to zones 2 or 3. This is compiled landscaping guidance about where to place the plant, rather than a direct measurement of its burning behavior.
The Sun City Texas Firewise Group gives dwarf fountain grass a high flammability-hazard rating. On its scale, that means the plant can burn readily at high temperatures for a prolonged time. The Georgetown group also says plants rated above medium should not be placed within five feet of a building. This assessment supports caution, but it comes from community firewise guidance rather than a primary test that would settle the broader question.
Black Fountaingrass is a grass in the Poaceae family and has been introduced in seven states, including Arkansas, Colorado, and Delaware. Both Texas sources warn against close placement near buildings, though their methods and distance rules differ. Those warnings are useful for landscaping decisions, but they do not establish a final fire-resistance classification.
Form
grass
Rated in
Austin, Texas; Georgetown, Texas
On this lot
1. Fire evidence and conditions
Fire evidence
Mixed evidence — location does not change the cited classification.
Sun City Texas, Georgetown (TX footprint); partial normalized coverage · 2015-01-14
The guide is authored for the Sun City Texas community in Georgetown. FireApproved publishes 142 exact owners only as community-level context. It is an archived HOA exhibit with unknown rating lineage, not a current statewide Texas source or an independent Tier 1 determination.
Travis County, Austin area (TX footprint); partial normalized coverage · 2024-01-16
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension publishes this page through its Travis County horticulture program. FireApproved publishes 56 exact owners and retains the source's zone and warning conditions. This is county/Austin regional context, not a second statewide Texas table or site clearance.
2. Why this plant is relevant here
State distribution
Native range
Introduced / established
7 sourced range or established records. This is not an invasive warning.
USDA hardiness
3. Legal, ecological, and broader status
Legal-list status
Seed-list status
Reported invasive here
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.
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: Perennials [Travis County Firewise page sections] (with its avoid rating)
Firewise Plant Guide: Ornamental Grasses [Sun City plant-table sections] (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.
“Plants to Avoid for Zone 1 (within 30′ of Structure)”
Listed as Fountain grass, dwarf — Pennisetum alopecuroides. The page says Zone 1 entries should be restricted to zones 2 or 3; all-zone entries are highly flammable due to volatile oils or growth habit.
The table rates Fountain Grass, Dwarf — Pennisetum alopecuroides high for flammability hazard, defined as the ease a plant can burn at high temperatures for a prolonged time.
