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Rockspirea is widely listed as a Firewise shrub, but these sources do not establish that it is inherently fire resistant.
Four western plant lists treat rockspirea favorably. The University of Nevada’s extension service includes it because at least two cited sources recommended it. Arizona’s extension service lists it for sites above 3,000 feet, while Fremont County, Wyoming, includes it among Firewise shrubs. The New Mexico Forestry Division recommends it from 4,000 through 9,000-plus feet and describes its water need as low to moderate.
That agreement is useful, but these are compiled planting lists rather than a direct flammability rating. Fremont County describes its Firewise selections generally as low-growing, low-debris, and relatively moist, but that description applies to the list as a whole, not as a measured finding about rockspirea itself. Nevada’s inclusion also reflects recommendations repeated across earlier lists, so it should not be mistaken for another independent test.
Rockspirea is a low-water shrub in the rose family, about three feet tall at maturity and hardy to USDA zone 4b. It is reasonable to regard it as a regionally supported Firewise choice, especially in the elevations named by Arizona and New Mexico. The stronger claim that rockspirea itself has been proven fire resistant remains unsettled.
Form
shrub
Mature height
~3 ft
Water need
low
Rated in
Arizona above 3,000 feet / interior Southwest; Fremont County, Wyoming; Nevada / Great Basin; New Mexico
On this lot
1. Fire evidence and conditions
Fire evidence
Mixed evidence — location does not change the cited classification.
Fremont County (WY footprint); partial normalized coverage · 2011-02-25
The source identifies itself as the Fremont County Firewise Plant List. FireApproved publishes its 92 exact source owners as Fremont County regional context. No methodology, current county endorsement, statewide Wyoming scope, or site-specific suitability is inferred.
New Mexico Forestry Division publishes this as its FireWise Plant List for New Mexico. FireApproved accounts for all 140 printed rows and publishes 95 exact same-rank owners already represented in the directory; 29 exact taxa without an existing record, 14 unresolved spellings or higher-rank matches, one compound taxon cell, and one species row whose only apparent owner has an infraspecific printed identity remain held. Every published row retains the source's Y, N, ?, or blank elevation cells. Publication scope does not erase those elevation limits or establish suitability for every New Mexico site.
Arizona at or above 3,000 feet (AZ footprint); partial normalized coverage · 2011-12-01
AZ1289 is explicitly limited to Arizona elevations of 3,000 feet and higher. FireApproved publishes 69 exact owners as regional Arizona context, retaining every water and elevation condition. It is never promoted to statewide low-desert guidance or an independent Tier 1 vote.
University of Nevada Cooperative Extension compiled plants suited to Nevada climate zones and reported favorably by at least two upstream firewise lists. FireApproved publishes 126 exact source owners at Nevada publication scope. The source explicitly makes no independent flammability determination, so these rows remain corroborative.
2. Why this plant is relevant here
State distribution
Documented in AZ, CO, ID, NM, NV, TX, UT, WY.
Native range
Introduced / established
USDA hardiness
Documented minimum 4b; no upper limit is documented.
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.
Plant hardiness evidence
These values describe the plant source. Your ZIP zone comes from the separate 2023 USDA
Plant Hardiness Zone Map. Whole-zone values stay whole-zone, and a single unresolved value
is not treated as a tolerance range. Different source boundaries stay separate: overlapping
statements are compared independently, while only ranges with no shared zone are called a conflict.
Source location: PlantCharacteristics record 89886, Temperature, Minimum (°F).
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.
FireWise Plant List for New Mexico: PDF page 4, Shrubs, p4-r13 [nm-emnrd-firewise-table-row] (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.
“Fremont County Firewise Plant List — Holodiscus dumosus — Ocean Spray, Cliff/Rock Spirea”
Listed in the source's Shrubs section; the page describes its listed Firewise plants as generally low-growing, low-debris, and relatively moist.
FireWise Plant List for New Mexico — New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, Forestry Division · 2003 Forestry Division PDF · original sourceCorroborationCompilationlineage: csu-nmsu-firewise
“FireWise Plant List for New Mexico”
Listed as Holodiscus dumosus (Ocean spray, cliff or rock spirea) in Shrubs. Printed elevation cells: 4,000 ft=Y, 5,000 ft=Y, 6,000 ft=Y, 7,000 ft=Y, 8,000 ft=Y, 9,000+ ft=Y. Water need: L-M; sun/shade: S/PS; mature height: 4’; approximate bloom: Jun.
