Honeysuckles Lonicera

Of seventeen species with published assessments, thirteen are rated fire resistant, two have been assessed without a verdict either way, one is genuinely contested, and one is rated keep away. Honeysuckles grow as shrubs and vines in the family Caprifoliaceae, native to the Southwestern, South-Central, North-Central, and the southeastern United States

The straight species, honeysuckle, carries the fire-resistant rating on a substantial body of assessment, and assessors describe it as firewise when properly used and maintained. Trumpet honeysuckle and Tatarian honeysuckle share that rating on a handful of assessments each, and trumpet honeysuckle is further described as a non-invasive, semi-evergreen vine with red, yellow, or orange flowers that draw hummingbirds.

The exception is Japanese honeysuckle, the most-studied member of the genus and the only one rated keep away, on a substantial body of assessment. Assessors call it very invasive, a ground cover and vine that crowds out native plants and is deciduous in the northern part of its range. Invasiveness is the theme that recurs most across the genus's own assessments, appearing in eleven members, though only here has it tipped a rating to keep away. Minorca honeysuckle is the other complication: genuinely contested, rated "MUY RECOMENDADA" (highly recommended) by a qualitative garden-suitability method that weighs fire evidence together with fuel structure, maintenance, origin, and invasiveness, not fire behavior alone.

For anyone reading a plant tag, the species is what settles the question. Japanese honeysuckle is the keep-away member to watch for; the straight species, trumpet honeysuckle, and Tatarian honeysuckle carry the fire-resistant rating, and Minorca honeysuckle remains unresolved.