Enter your ZIP to see whether this is legal to plant in your state, and whether it survives your winter.
Yes, hairy dewflower is rated fire resistant, though the primary support is limited to one Southern California field trial.
The Los Angeles State & County Arboretum placed this succulent in its highest fire-retardance category, based on leaf moisture capacity of 90–95% under normal garden conditions at the Arboretum.
That finding has broader support from the Diablo Firesafe Council’s plant guide. The council lists hairy dewflower among plants receiving favorable fire-performance ratings in at least three references, and its row cites 13 references. This is a compilation rather than another field trial, and the guide says the ranking terms used by most of its references were undefined. It therefore shows repeated favorable judgments without making every judgment directly comparable.
The practical reason for the favorable rating is moisture: the Arboretum’s system treats greater leaf moisture capacity as greater fire retardance. That rating does not mean the plant cannot burn or that its performance will be identical outside the trial’s normal garden conditions. Still, both institutions place hairy dewflower on the favorable side, making fire resistant the best-supported conclusion while keeping the limits of the underlying evidence in view.
Form
succulent
Rated in
California; Southern California
On this lot
1. Fire evidence and conditions
Fire evidence
Fire-resistant — location does not change the cited classification.
The guide presents itself as fire performance ratings for common landscape plants in a fire-prone California setting. FireApproved publishes 104 exact owners as republished California context. It is not an independent rating, a current endorsement, or parcel suitability.
2. Why this plant is relevant here
State distribution
Documented in CA.
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
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.
Conditions in the fire evidence
These describe tested or rated plant material. They are not horticultural maintenance instructions.
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.
Fire-Retardant Plants for Brush Fire Prevention in Hillsi…: Category 1 [la-arboretum-1970-leaf-moisture-fire-retardance] (with its recommendation)
Fire Performance of Common Plants: Table 1 (favorable in 3 or more references) [diablo-guide-to-plants-three-reference-vote] (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.
“CATEGORY 1 — GREATEST FIRE RETARDANCE Succulents (moisture content 90-95%)”
· condition: green
Drosanthemum hispidum (Rosea Ice Plant) is one of 30 low-growing plants in the source's recommended Table 1. The category reflects leaf moisture capacity under normal garden conditions at the Arboretum.
Corroboration (1 rows from 1 source)
Fire Performance of Common Plants (Guide to Plants) — Diablo Firesafe Council · live page captured 2026-08-29 · original sourceCorroborationMirrorlineage: ucfpl-berkeley resolves to Defensible Space Landscaping in the Urban/Wildland Interface: A Compilation of Fire Performance Ratings of Residential Landscape Plants
“Table 1: favorable fire performance rating in 3 or more references (refs 7,9,10,18,23,24,25,28,36,39,40,41,53)”
The Diablo Firesafe Council Guide to Plants lists Drosanthemum hispidum (Rosea ice plant) as groundcover, perennial, in Table 1: plants with a favorable fire performance rating in 3 or more references. The guide cites 13 of its 57 numbered references for this row (7,9,10,18,23,24,25,28,36,39,40,41,53). The guide states the ranking terms in its underlying references were mostly undefined and makes no attempt to rank within the list, and that fire performance is compromised without maintenance.