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Oleaster has mixed fire-resistance findings, including a French rating of medium fire sensitivity.
The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension lists silverberry, Elaeagnus sp., among fire-resistant plants when irrigated and maintained. Arizona also warns that this category does not mean fireproof. The South Carolina Forestry Commission places Eleagnus, or Russian olive, among less flammable plants with some fire resistance. These practical landscape classifications both lean toward resistance.
France’s Office national des forêts reaches a more cautious result for oleaster under Mediterranean conditions. Its “moyenne” class combines experimental-bench measurements of inflammability, burning intensity, and combustion with foresters’ observations of fire damage. On that scale, “moyenne” is mixed rather than favorable.
The sources use different methods and address different regions. Arizona and South Carolina sort plants into landscape categories, while the French system combines laboratory measurements with post-fire observation. For this shrub in the Elaeagnaceae family, the overall picture is mixed: favorable landscape classifications alongside medium fire sensitivity in the French assessment.
Form
shrub
Rated in
Mediterranean southeast France; South Carolina; Yavapai County, Arizona
On this lot
1. Fire evidence and conditions
Fire evidence
Mixed evidence — location does not change the cited classification.
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.
Yavapai County (AZ footprint); partial normalized coverage · 2025-03-14
University of Arizona Cooperative Extension authors Bulletin 34 for Yavapai County. FireApproved publishes 198 exact source owners from its resistant and prone tables and keeps the county boundary visible. County publication scope is regional Arizona context, never statewide scope.
2. Why this plant is relevant here
State distribution
Documented in AZ.
Native range
Introduced / established
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.
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.
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.
Listed as Silverberry — Elaeagnus sp.. The bulletin says fire-resistant plants tend to resist ignition when irrigated and maintained, while fire-prone plants may ignite readily and burn intensely.
Listed as Eleagnus; Russian olive. The source says highly flammable plants ignite faster and burn readily; less flammable plants have some fire resistance.
The fiche's overall sensitivity combines experimental-bench inflammability, intensity, and combustion measurements with foresters' observations of fire damage.
