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holly

Ilex sp. (accepted: Ilex) · Aquifoliaceae · all Ilex records

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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: Highly flammable — 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: 6 source placement records; source schemes remain separate.
Evidence regions: Alabama; Austin, Texas; Florida; Kentucky; South Carolina; Yavapai County, Arizona; eastern US
Maintenance: No sourced horticultural maintenance assertion is normalized; fire-test conditions do not supply maintenance advice.

Typed publication scope: 5 scopes across 5 cited fire sources

Firewise Landscaping for Woodland Homes · Official scoped edition
- AL; partial normalized coverage
  The Alabama Forestry Commission's five-page AFC-FP-04 booklet is an Alabama publication and contains 31 printed suggested or fire-prone plant occurrences. FireApproved publishes 27 exact species or genus owners and holds one infraspecific form plus two named cultivars; this historical source scope does not establish current site suitability for a particular Alabama property.
Landscaping Can Be Attractive & FIREWISE (Fire Smart Plant List for SC) · Official scoped edition
- SC; partial normalized coverage
  South Carolina Forestry Commission publishes this explicitly as its Fire Smart Plant List for South Carolina. FireApproved publishes 63 exact genus owners from 72 unique common-name labels; unsafe common-name mappings and duplicates are not broadened. The brochure calls the list non-inclusive and does not establish species-level or site-specific suitability.
Firewise Landscaping (Travis County) · Official scoped edition
- Travis County, Austin area (TX footprint); partial normalized coverage · 2024-01-16
  Texas A&M AgriLife Extension publishes this page through its Travis County horticulture program. FireApproved publishes 56 exact owners and retains the source's zone and warning conditions. This is county/Austin regional context, not a second statewide Texas table or site clearance.
Save Your Home from Wildfire (ForFS 17-01) · Official scoped edition
- KY; partial normalized coverage · 2017-01-01
  University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension and the Kentucky Division of Forestry publish this small-woodland guidance for Kentuckians. FireApproved exposes its 13 exact species or genus owners while retaining the prose-example grain. It is not a scored or comprehensive state table.
Fire-Resistant and Fire-Prone Plants Common to Yavapai County (Bulletin 34) · Official scoped edition
- Yavapai County (AZ footprint); partial normalized coverage · 2025-03-14
  University of Arizona Cooperative Extension authors Bulletin 34 for Yavapai County. FireApproved publishes 198 exact source owners from its resistant and prone tables and keeps the county boundary visible. County publication scope is regional Arizona context, never statewide scope.

2. Why this plant is relevant here

State distribution: Documented in KY.
Native range: No current cited or legacy state native range is normalized.
Introduced / established: No introduced or established row is normalized; that does not prove native status.
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
Grows in: KY
Rated in: Alabama; Austin, Texas; Florida; Kentucky +3
Family: Aquifoliaceae
Evidence: 7 cited sources

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.

Save Your Home from Wildfire: should not be planted near the home [uk-forfs-home] (with its avoid rating)
Landscaping in Florida with Fire in Mind: within 30 feet of the home [ufifas-for71-defensible-space] (with its avoid rating)
Eastern United States Fire Performance Plant Selector: Master Plant DB row 691 [lwf-2024-fps-carrier] (mid-scale rating)
Landscaping Can Be Attractive & FIREWISE: SHRUBS [SCFC Fire Smart plant-form sections] (with its avoid rating)
Firewise Landscaping: Small Shrubs; High Flammability Plants to Consider Avoiding for all Zones [Travis County Firewise page sections] (with its avoid rating)
Firewise Landscaping for Woodland Homes: Suggested shrubs [Alabama Forestry Commission booklet section] (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.

Avoids (4)

Save Your Home from Wildfire (ForFS 17-01) — University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension / Kentucky Division of Forestry · 2017 · original source Corroboration Compilation

“can be highly flammable”

The factsheet names “holly”; this row is reconciled to the exact GBIF genus identity.
Landscaping in Florida with Fire in Mind — University of Florida IFAS Extension and Florida Division of Forestry · FOR 71 / EDIS FR076 · original source Primary evidence Expert-curated lineage: ufifas-srs-tree

“Remove flammable plants”

The source says to remove yaupon holly and gallberry within 30 feet of the home because the plants contain resins, oils, and waxes that burn readily. This record preserves only the exact genus-level identity supported by that label.
Landscaping Can Be Attractive & FIREWISE (Fire Smart Plant List for SC) — South Carolina Forestry Commission · 2005 brochure · original source Corroboration Compilation lineage: unknown

“HIGHLY Flammable Plants (Plants that will ignite faster and burn readily)”

Listed as Gallberry; Hollies; Yaupon. The source says highly flammable plants ignite faster and burn readily; less flammable plants have some fire resistance.
Firewise Landscaping (Travis County) — Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Travis County · page modified 2024-01-16 · original source Corroboration Compilation lineage: unknown

“High Flammability Plants to Consider Avoiding for all Zones”

Listed as Holly-all varieties — Ilex; Hollies — Ilex. The page says Zone 1 entries should be restricted to zones 2 or 3; all-zone entries are highly flammable due to volatile oils or growth habit.

Mid-scale / conditional (1)

Eastern United States Fire Performance Plant Selector — USDA Forest Service Northeastern Area S&PF + state Firewise programs (WV, OH, PA, DE, DC, MD, NJ) · 2024-03-05 carrier workbook · original source Primary evidence Keyed curation lineage: ufifas-srs-tree

“M-H”

Living With Fire workbook row 691 attributes this value to FPS.

Fire-resistant shrubs instead

Red-osier dogwood
Cornus sericea

Snowberry
Symphoricarpos albus

High bush blueberry
Vaccinium corymbosum

Common witchhazel
Hamamelis virginiana

Winterberry holly
Ilex verticillata

Southern arrowood viburnum
Viburnum dentatum

Fire-resistant shrubs listed above

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

Profiles: GBIF ·

Ilex sp. (holly). FireApproved. https://fireapproved.com/plants/ilex/. Last verified 2026-08-25.