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Japanese rose (Kerria japonica) has mixed fire guidance, with different recommendations for its forms and regional planting zones.
The Fire Resistance of Plants Master Database for southern Idaho gives generic Japanese Kerria a score of 5 out of 10, corresponding to a minimum suggested distance of 60 feet from a home. Its separate entry named 'Pleniflora' Golden Guinea Kerria scores 6, corresponding to 50 feet. The generic entry cannot inherit the named form's score or shorter distance. Both specify partial shade and medium water. These are regional placement suggestions, not experimentally guaranteed safe distances.
FireSmart BC's retained chart includes Japanese Kerria among its fire-resistant plants and marks it for the Extended zone, 10 to 30 meters. That band belongs to the Canadian chart; it is not a conversion of Idaho's distances. The row specifies part sun and medium growing-season irrigation. FireSmart advises checking regional suitability and plant needs, grouping plants with similar water requirements, and recognizing that listed plants differ in ignitability, especially in dry areas.
Ohio State's Firewise Landscaping bulletin assigns Kerria Medium flammability from experience-based ratings. Its comments describe aggressive suckering and adaptation to urban conditions; green stems are a descriptive feature, not an explanation of fire resistance.
The historical Eastern United States Fire Performance Plant Selector rates Kerria At Risk, 3 on its four-point scale, and marks ladder potential WITHOUT PRUNING as Yes. On high-fire-risk sites, its LZ2 assignment means 5 to 10 feet from a structure, with maintained lawn and fuel breaks. Trees there require at least 10 feet of vertical and horizontal clearance from the structure at maturity, with 10 to 15 feet between crown edges; these are tree instructions, not shrub-spacing rules. Its introduction also requires at least 2 feet between mature vegetation and structures.
The selector calls for removing dead leaves, twigs and needles, pruning deadwood, watering and maintaining separation between plants. It discourages close mass planting. Keep the exact Kerria form, regional framework and care requirements attached to each recommendation.
Southern Idaho (ID footprint); partial normalized coverage · 2013-11-08
The official database labels itself "For Southern Idaho" and describes Idaho residents at the urban-rangeland interface. FireApproved publishes 419 existing plant owners that cite its scored rows. This bounded Southern Idaho scope is regional context, not statewide coverage or a conclusion that the score transfers unchanged to every Idaho site.
Ohio State University Extension Bulletin 921 is an Ohio publication that describes Ohio fire seasons and landscape conditions and labels nativity to Ohio. FireApproved publishes 352 exact source-owning plant records from its eight rated tables. This historical publication scope does not assert current extension endorsement or that a listed plant suits every Ohio site.
2. Why this plant is relevant here
State distribution
Documented in AL, CT, DC, DE, IL, KY, MD, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, SC, TN, UT, VA, WV.
Native range
Introduced / established
16 sourced range or established records. This is not an invasive warning.
USDA hardiness
Only uncertain or inapplicable hardiness rows are cited; no primary zone is projected.
3. Legal, ecological, and broader status
Legal-list status
Seed-list status
Reported invasive here
1 ecological invasive report.
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.
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.
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.
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 prints 5 · single-value meaning unresolved · whole zone precision · source stated
Source taxon: Kerria japonica · exact match.
Source location: Cold Hardiness Zone field in the recovered selector record.
Not used for comparison: The recovered selector prints one Cold Hardiness Zone value but does not define it as a minimum threshold or a one-zone range.
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.
Eastern United States Fire Performance Plant Selector: Landscape Zone 2 — 5–10 ft from the structure; maintained lawn or fuel breaks, with easily ignited evergreens avoided [Fire Performance Plant Selector landscape zone] (mid-scale rating)
Fire Resistance of Plants Master Database: minimum suggested distance 60' from home [Idaho minimum planting distance] (mid-scale rating)
FireSmart BC Plant Program: suitable for HIZ extended zone (10-30 m) [FireSmart BC Home Ignition Zone] (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.
