shrubby cinquefoil
Dasiphora fruticosa
A genus split is not a placement verdict.
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Shrubby cinquefoil is consistently rated fire resistant, including in a whole-plant burn study.
Six assessments reach the same practical conclusion across the West, Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, and British Columbia. The agreement is unusually broad because it combines expert planting guidance with laboratory testing rather than relying on one regional list.
The USDA Forest Service and NIST placed shrubby cinquefoil in the low-flammability group after whole-plant burns using large-scale calorimetry. Ohio State and Virginia Tech also rate it “L” for low flammability, though both warn that the shrub adapts poorly to hot, humid locations. Western extension services list it as fire resistant, while FireSmart BC approves it as a fire-resistant plant.
Shrubby cinquefoil is a member of the rose family, native from Subarctic America into parts of the western and northeastern United States. Its listed hardiness spans USDA zones 3a through 7b. Those climate facts matter when choosing where it will grow well, but they do not create the fire rating. The case rests on agreement among regional specialists and a whole-shrub burn test, making shrubby cinquefoil a well-supported fire-resistant landscape choice.
- Form
- shrub
- Rated in
- Alaska; Arizona above 3,000 feet / interior Southwest; British Columbia; Maryland, New Jersey, and West Virginia +11