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Empetrum nigrum

Empetrum nigrum · Ericaceae

Your local evidence lens

Separate evidence questions, never one approval badge

Set a ZIP to compare this record with state distribution, native range, USDA hardiness, and invasive records.

A genus split is not a placement verdict. Set a ZIP to read the local documented split.

1. Fire evidence and conditions

Fire evidence: Mixed evidence — location does not change the cited classification.
Fire-performance conditions: No test or rating condition is normalized.
Fire ecology context: No section-reviewed fire-ecology context is normalized.
Placement evidence: 0 source placement records; source schemes remain separate.
Evidence regions: Global
Maintenance: No sourced horticultural maintenance assertion is normalized; fire-test conditions do not supply maintenance advice.

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; set a location to match them. This is not an invasive warning.
USDA hardiness: No hardiness value is normalized.

3. Legal, ecological, and broader status

Legal-list status: Set a location for an exact legal-list result; source silence is not clearance.
Seed-list status: Set a location to compare the separate state noxious-weed seed layer.
Reported invasive here: No ecological invasive report is normalized; that does not prove noninvasiveness.
Broader regional context: Aggregate AK, HI, and L48 evidence is shown only as regional context, never as an exact-state finding.
Federal context: Federal designations remain separate from state legal-list results.

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.

Form: shrub
Current cited native range: AK, CA, ME, MI, NH, NY, OR, VT, WA
Grows in: ME, MI, MN, NH, NY, VT
Rated in: Global
Family: Ericaceae
Evidence: 8 cited sources

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)

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.
- “calorific value (kcal/kg): 5449.33” · score 5449.33 (FLAMITS — calorific value (kcal/kg))
  
  FLAMITS record 11915; Combustibility measurement; plant part litter; fuel dead; predrying yes; device calorimeter; site Santana2014-2; sampling summer and autumn. 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.
- “ignition frequency (%): 88.37” · score 88.37 (FLAMITS — ignition frequency (%))
  
  FLAMITS record 11916; Ignitability measurement; plant part litter; fuel dead; predrying yes; device calorimeter; site Santana2014-2; sampling summer and autumn. 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.
- “frequency of sustained flaming (%): 30.23” · score 30.23 (FLAMITS — frequency of sustained flaming (%))
  
  FLAMITS record 11917; Sustainability measurement; plant part litter; fuel dead; predrying yes; device calorimeter; site Santana2014-2; sampling summer and autumn. 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.
- “calorific value (kcal/kg): 5610” · score 5610 (FLAMITS — calorific value (kcal/kg))
  
  FLAMITS record 12975; Combustibility measurement; plant part stems; fuel dead; predrying no; device calorimeter; site Sylvester1981-1; sampling july to august. 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.
- “calorific value (kcal/kg): 5610” · score 5610 (FLAMITS — calorific value (kcal/kg))
  
  FLAMITS record 12984; Combustibility measurement; plant part leaves; fuel live; predrying no; device calorimeter; site Sylvester1981-1; sampling july to august. 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.
- “maximum flame temperature (°C): 645.4” · score 645.4 (FLAMITS — maximum flame temperature (°C))
  
  FLAMITS record 13386; Combustibility measurement; plant part twigs; fuel all; predrying yes; device burning bench; site vanAltena2012-1; sampling september. 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.
- “flaming duration (s): 85.63” · score 85.63 (FLAMITS — flaming duration (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 13391; Sustainability measurement; plant part twigs; fuel all; predrying yes; device burning bench; site vanAltena2012-1; sampling september. 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.
- “rate of burning spread (cm/s): 0.4” · score 0.4 (FLAMITS — rate of burning spread (cm/s))
  
  FLAMITS record 13396; Sustainability measurement; plant part twigs; fuel all; predrying yes; device burning bench; site vanAltena2012-1; sampling september. 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.

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

Profiles: USDA PLANTS · GBIF ·

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