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Kānuka

Kunzea robusta · Myrtaceae · all Kunzea records · also called White tea tree

Your local evidence lens

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: 0 source placement records; source schemes remain separate.
Evidence regions: Global; New Zealand
Maintenance: No sourced horticultural maintenance assertion is normalized; fire-test conditions do not supply maintenance advice.

2. Why this plant is relevant here

State distribution: No state distribution is normalized.
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.

Kānuka (Kunzea robusta) — Photo: (c) Angus Campbell, some rights reserved (CC BY) (CC BY), via iNaturalist. Species-typical, not necessarily this cultivar.

Form: tree
Region: New Zealand
Rated in: Global; New Zealand
Family: Myrtaceae
Evidence: 17 cited sources

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 (1)

Low Flammability Plants directory — Fire and Emergency New Zealand (plant flammability testing at Lincoln University) · 2026 · original source Primary evidence Lab-tested lineage: lincoln-nz-tree

“High flammability”

High flammability classification.

Listed without a rating (16)

FLAMITS: FLAMmability plant traiTS database — Dryad / Global Ecology and Biogeography · Dryad version 9 · original source Corroboration Trait database lineage: meta-aggregator

16 cited rows from this source; its identity, lineage and tier are stated once.
- “time to flaming (s): 2.15” · score 2.15 (FLAMITS — time to flaming (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 16097; Ignitability measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Sultana2022-1; sampling autum 2019. Primary study Sultana2022: Sultana, N. (2022). Traits underpinning the eco-physiological processes linking drought and flammability. PhD. Dissertation. Lincoln University.
- “time to flaming (s): 1.05” · score 1.05 (FLAMITS — time to flaming (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 16098; Ignitability measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Sultana2022-1; sampling winter 2019. Primary study Sultana2022: Sultana, N. (2022). Traits underpinning the eco-physiological processes linking drought and flammability. PhD. Dissertation. Lincoln University.
- “time to flaming (s): 0.43” · score 0.43 (FLAMITS — time to flaming (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 16099; Ignitability measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Sultana2022-1; sampling spring 2019. Primary study Sultana2022: Sultana, N. (2022). Traits underpinning the eco-physiological processes linking drought and flammability. PhD. Dissertation. Lincoln University.
- “time to flaming (s): 0.43” · score 0.43 (FLAMITS — time to flaming (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 16100; Ignitability measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Sultana2022-1; sampling summer 2019. Primary study Sultana2022: Sultana, N. (2022). Traits underpinning the eco-physiological processes linking drought and flammability. PhD. Dissertation. Lincoln University.
- “maximum flame temperature (°C): 599.11” · score 599.11 (FLAMITS — maximum flame temperature (°C))
  
  FLAMITS record 16137; Combustibility measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Sultana2022-1; sampling autum 2019. Primary study Sultana2022: Sultana, N. (2022). Traits underpinning the eco-physiological processes linking drought and flammability. PhD. Dissertation. Lincoln University.
- “maximum flame temperature (°C): 647.64” · score 647.64 (FLAMITS — maximum flame temperature (°C))
  
  FLAMITS record 16138; Combustibility measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Sultana2022-1; sampling winter 2019. Primary study Sultana2022: Sultana, N. (2022). Traits underpinning the eco-physiological processes linking drought and flammability. PhD. Dissertation. Lincoln University.
- “maximum flame temperature (°C): 721.67” · score 721.67 (FLAMITS — maximum flame temperature (°C))
  
  FLAMITS record 16139; Combustibility measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Sultana2022-1; sampling spring 2019. Primary study Sultana2022: Sultana, N. (2022). Traits underpinning the eco-physiological processes linking drought and flammability. PhD. Dissertation. Lincoln University.
- “maximum flame temperature (°C): 686.47” · score 686.47 (FLAMITS — maximum flame temperature (°C))
  
  FLAMITS record 16140; Combustibility measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Sultana2022-1; sampling summer 2019. Primary study Sultana2022: Sultana, N. (2022). Traits underpinning the eco-physiological processes linking drought and flammability. PhD. Dissertation. Lincoln University.
- “estimated burnt biomass (%): 76.62” · score 76.62 (FLAMITS — estimated burnt biomass (%))
  
  FLAMITS record 16177; Consumability measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Sultana2022-1; sampling autum 2019. Primary study Sultana2022: Sultana, N. (2022). Traits underpinning the eco-physiological processes linking drought and flammability. PhD. Dissertation. Lincoln University.
- “estimated burnt biomass (%): 76.75” · score 76.75 (FLAMITS — estimated burnt biomass (%))
  
  FLAMITS record 16178; Consumability measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Sultana2022-1; sampling winter 2019. Primary study Sultana2022: Sultana, N. (2022). Traits underpinning the eco-physiological processes linking drought and flammability. PhD. Dissertation. Lincoln University.
- “estimated burnt biomass (%): 94.4” · score 94.4 (FLAMITS — estimated burnt biomass (%))
  
  FLAMITS record 16179; Consumability measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Sultana2022-1; sampling spring 2019. Primary study Sultana2022: Sultana, N. (2022). Traits underpinning the eco-physiological processes linking drought and flammability. PhD. Dissertation. Lincoln University.
- “estimated burnt biomass (%): 94.04” · score 94.04 (FLAMITS — estimated burnt biomass (%))
  
  FLAMITS record 16180; Consumability measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Sultana2022-1; sampling summer 2019. Primary study Sultana2022: Sultana, N. (2022). Traits underpinning the eco-physiological processes linking drought and flammability. PhD. Dissertation. Lincoln University.
- “burning duration (s): 22.05” · score 22.05 (FLAMITS — burning duration (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 16217; Sustainability measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Sultana2022-1; sampling autum 2019. Primary study Sultana2022: Sultana, N. (2022). Traits underpinning the eco-physiological processes linking drought and flammability. PhD. Dissertation. Lincoln University.
- “burning duration (s): 49.7” · score 49.7 (FLAMITS — burning duration (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 16218; Sustainability measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Sultana2022-1; sampling winter 2019. Primary study Sultana2022: Sultana, N. (2022). Traits underpinning the eco-physiological processes linking drought and flammability. PhD. Dissertation. Lincoln University.
- “burning duration (s): 37.64” · score 37.64 (FLAMITS — burning duration (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 16219; Sustainability measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Sultana2022-1; sampling spring 2019. Primary study Sultana2022: Sultana, N. (2022). Traits underpinning the eco-physiological processes linking drought and flammability. PhD. Dissertation. Lincoln University.
- “burning duration (s): 26.2” · score 26.2 (FLAMITS — burning duration (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 16220; Sustainability measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Sultana2022-1; sampling summer 2019. Primary study Sultana2022: Sultana, N. (2022). Traits underpinning the eco-physiological processes linking drought and flammability. PhD. Dissertation. Lincoln University.

Fire-resistant trees instead

Post oak
Quercus stellata

Red oak
Quercus rubra

Gambel Oak
Quercus gambelii

Basswood
Tilia americana

Oak
Quercus spp.

Dahurian larch
Larix gmelinii

Fire-resistant trees listed above

Last verified 2026-08-23. JSON (CC BY 4.0)

Profiles: GBIF · iNaturalist · Wikidata ·

Kunzea robusta (Kānuka, White tea tree). FireApproved. https://fireapproved.com/plants/kunzea-robusta/. Last verified 2026-08-23.