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purple crowberry

Empetrum nigrum · Ericaceae · also called Empetrum nigrum · Wikipedia

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Form
shrub
Rated in
Global
On this lot

1. Fire evidence and conditions

Fire evidence
Mixed evidence — location does not change the cited classification.
Evidence regions
Global

2. Why this plant is relevant here

State distribution
Documented in ME, MI, MN, NH, NY, VT.
Native range
Current cited native range in AK, CA, ME, MI, NH, NY, OR, VT, WA.
Introduced / established
1 sourced range or established record. This is not an invasive warning.

3. Legal, ecological, and broader status

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.

Current native

10

exact source areas

Current introduced

1

exact source area

Qualified

0

doubtful or extinct source rows

10 native source areas · World Checklist of Vascular Plants, version 16 v16, as of 2026-06-04
  • Aleutian Is. (AK)
  • Alaska (AK)
  • California (CA)
  • Maine (ME)
  • Michigan (MI)
  • New Hampshire (NH)
  • New York (NY)
  • Oregon (OR)
  • Vermont (VT)
  • Washington (WA)
1 introduced source area · World Checklist of Vascular Plants, version 16 v16, as of 2026-06-04
  • Minnesota (MN)

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.

Listed without a rating (8)
Corroboration (8 rows from 1 source)

  • FLAMITS: FLAMmability plant traiTS database — Dryad / Global Ecology and Biogeography · Dryad version 9 · original source Corroboration Trait database lineage: meta-aggregator

    8 cited rows from this source; its identity, lineage and tier are stated once.

    • Primary study Santana2014: Santana, V. M., & Marrs, R. H. (2014). Flammability properties of British heathland and moorland vegetation: Models for predicting fire ignition. Journal of Environmental Management, 139, 88-96.

      Shared row context: plant part litter; fuel dead; predrying yes; device calorimeter; site Santana2014-2; sampling summer and autumn.

      • “calorific value (kcal/kg): 5449.33”

        FLAMITS record 11915; Combustibility measurement.

      • “ignition frequency (%): 88.37”

        FLAMITS record 11916; Ignitability measurement.

      • “frequency of sustained flaming (%): 30.23”

        FLAMITS record 11917; Sustainability measurement.

    • Primary study Sylvester1981: Sylvester, T. W., & Wein, R. W. (1981). Fuel characteristics of arctic plant-species and simulated plant community flammability by Rothermels model. Canadian Journal of Botany-Revue Canadienne De Botanique, 59, 898-907.

      Shared row context: Combustibility measurement; predrying no; device calorimeter; site Sylvester1981-1; sampling july to august.

      • “calorific value (kcal/kg): 5610”

        FLAMITS record 12975; plant part stems; fuel dead.

      • “calorific value (kcal/kg): 5610”

        FLAMITS record 12984; plant part leaves; fuel live.

    • Primary study vanAltena2012: van Altena, C., van Logtestijn, R. S., Cornwell, W. K., & Cornelissen, J. H. (2012). Species composition and fire: non-additive mixture effects on ground fuel flammability. Front Plant Sci, 3, 63.

      Shared row context: plant part twigs; fuel all; predrying yes; device burning bench; site vanAltena2012-1; sampling september.

      • “maximum flame temperature (°C): 645.4”

        FLAMITS record 13386; Combustibility measurement.

      • Shared measurement context: Sustainability measurement.

        • “flaming duration (s): 85.63”

          FLAMITS record 13391.

        • “rate of burning spread (cm/s): 0.4”

          FLAMITS record 13396.

Fire-resistant shrubs instead

kinnikinnick
Arctostaphylos uva-ursi redosier dogwood
Cornus sericea common snowberry
Symphoricarpos albus shrubby cinquefoil
Dasiphora fruticosa American witchhazel
Hamamelis virginiana common winterberry
Ilex verticillata

Last verified 2026-08-25. JSON (CC BY 4.0)

Profiles: USDA PLANTS · GBIF · iNaturalist · Wikidata · Wikipedia · ITIS

Empetrum nigrum (Empetrum nigrum). FireApproved. https://fireapproved.com/plants/empetrum-nigrum/. Last verified 2026-08-25.