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Karaka nut is rated fire resistant, based on two New Zealand laboratory classifications of low or low/moderate flammability.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand classifies the tree as having low flammability on its seven-level scale, which runs from very low to very high. The service treats low and low-moderate species as suitable choices for reduced flammability. A 2016 study in the International Journal of Wildland Fire reached a similar result, assigning karaka nut shoots to its low/moderate cluster after the samples had been air-dried for 24 hours. Both classifications fall within their respective sources’ recommended ranges.
A separate global plant-traits database reports a 50 percent ignition frequency for predried karaka nut branches tested on a grill. That figure measures how often the test material ignited in that experiment. The database preserves measurements from different methods and plant parts without setting a single threshold for classifying them as resistant or hazardous, so this result does not supply another verdict.
Karaka nut is a tree in the Corynocarpaceae family, and its fire-resistant rating rests on limited primary evidence. Other concerns remain separate from that rating: the New Zealand service flags the plant as poisonous, while it is introduced in Hawaii and flagged invasive in one jurisdiction.
Form
tree
Rated in
Global; New Zealand
On this lot
1. Fire evidence and conditions
Fire evidence
Fire-resistant — location does not change the cited classification.
Fire-performance conditions
Fire ecology context
Placement evidence
Evidence regions
Global; New Zealand
Maintenance
2. Why this plant is relevant here
State distribution
Documented in HI.
Native range
Introduced / established
1 sourced range or established record. This is not an invasive warning.
USDA hardiness
3. Legal, ecological, and broader status
Legal-list status
Seed-list status
Reported invasive here
1 ecological invasive report.
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.
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 (2)
Low Flammability Plants directory — Fire and Emergency New Zealand (plant flammability testing at Lincoln University) · 2026 · original sourcePrimary evidenceLab-testedlineage: lincoln-nz-tree
“Low flammability”
Low flammability classification. Flagged poisonous in the FENZ directory.
14 cited rows from this source; its identity, lineage and tier are stated once.
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.
Shared row context: plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Cui2020a-1; sampling ND.
“ignition frequency (%): 50”
FLAMITS record 1369; Ignitability measurement.
“maximum sample temperature (°C): 235.5”
FLAMITS record 1563; Combustibility measurement.
“burning duration (s): 1.5”
FLAMITS record 1757; Sustainability measurement.
“estimated burnt biomass (%): 3.8”
FLAMITS record 1951; Consumability measurement.
Primary study Mason2016: Mason, N. W. H., Frazao, C., Buxton, R. P., & Richardson, S. J. (2016). Fire form and function: evidence for exaptive flammability in the New Zealand flora. Plant Ecology, 217, 645-659.
Shared row context: plant part leaves; fuel live; predrying yes; device muffle furnace; site Mason2016-3; sampling summer.
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.
Shared row context: plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Wyse2016-1; sampling ND.
