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Feijoa has favorable landscape ratings, but current findings do not establish that it is fire resistant.
Three sources favor this shrub. The University of California Forest Products Laboratory reported that 11 references recommended feijoa for high-fire-risk areas. The ACT Government marks Feijoa sellowiana “Fire Retardant: Yes,” and the Diablo Firesafe Council places it among plants given favorable fire-performance ratings by at least three references. These findings show repeated support for using feijoa in fire-risk landscaping, although the California university report cautions that earlier plant lists often relied on undefined terms and lacked a scientific basis.
A separate experiment supplies a measurement rather than a recommendation. The FLAMITS database records 100% ignition frequency for predried feijoa branches tested with a grill under the study’s “fuel all” setting. That figure applies to the material and conditions tested. FLAMITS does not set a common threshold for converting measurements from different plant parts, devices, and flammability variables into a resistant or flammable verdict.
Feijoa, or Feijoa sellowiana, is a shrub in the myrtle family. Its repeated favorable ratings support considering it for fire-risk landscapes, but they do not demonstrate resistance under every condition. The fairest conclusion is that landscape sources favor feijoa while the experimental measurement does not settle its overall fire resistance.
Form
shrub
Region
New Zealand
Rated in
Australian Capital Territory, Australia; California; Global
On this lot
1. Fire evidence and conditions
Fire evidence
Mixed evidence — 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.
The UC Forest Products Laboratory says the guide covers properties of common California landscaping plants and was prepared for California fire agencies. FireApproved publishes 130 exact owners at historical California publication scope. The report is a 1997 compilation, not a current endorsement, site rating, or independent test of every row.
2. Why this plant is relevant here
State distribution
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.
Defensible Space Landscaping in the Urban/Wildland Interf…: Chapter 4, Landscape Vegetation Database [ucfpl-1997] (with its recommendation)
Canberra Plant Selector: filtered result page 16 [canberra-selector] (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.
The live Canberra Plant Selector marks “Feijoa sellowiana” as “Fire Retardant: Yes.”
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 89,11,12,17,25,30,40, 41,42,53)”
The Diablo Firesafe Council Guide to Plants lists Feijoa sellowiana (Pineapple guava) as tree, evergreen, in Table 1: plants with a favorable fire performance rating in 3 or more references. The guide cites 10 of its 57 numbered references for this row (89,11,12,17,25,30,40, 41,42,53). 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.
Listed without a rating (4)Corroboration (4 rows from 1 source)
4 cited rows from this source; its identity, lineage and tier are stated once.
Primary study Cui2020a: Cui, X., Paterson, A. M., Wyse, S. V., Alam, M. A., Maurin, K. J. L., Pieper, R., ... Curran, T. J. (2020a). Shoot flammability of vascular plants is phylogenetically conserved and related to habitat fire-proneness and growth form. Nature Plants, 6, 355-359.
Shared row context: plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Cui2020a-1; sampling ND.
