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Larch

Larix · Pinaceae · all Larix records

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: Mixed evidence — 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: 1 source placement record; source schemes remain separate.
Evidence regions: California; Global
Maintenance: No sourced horticultural maintenance assertion is normalized; fire-test conditions do not supply maintenance advice.

Typed publication scope: 1 scope across 1 cited fire source

Defensible Space Landscaping in the Urban/Wildland Interface: A Compilation of Fire Performance Ratings of Residential Landscape Plants · Official scoped edition
- CA; partial normalized coverage · 1997-07-01
  The UC Forest Products Laboratory says the guide covers properties of common California landscaping plants and was prepared for California fire agencies. FireApproved publishes 130 exact owners at historical California publication scope. The report is a 1997 compilation, not a current endorsement, site rating, or independent test of every row.

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.

Form: tree
Region: China; Japan
Rated in: California; Global
Family: Pinaceae
Evidence: 11 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.

Defensible Space Landscaping in the Urban/Wildland Interf…: Chapter 4, Landscape Vegetation Database [ucfpl-1997] (with its avoid rating)

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)

Defensible Space Landscaping in the Urban/Wildland Interface: A Compilation of Fire Performance Ratings of Residential Landscape Plants — University of California Forest Products Laboratory · Internal Report 36.01.137 (July 1997) · original source Corroboration Compilation lineage: ucfpl-berkeley

“Not recommended by 3 references for use in high fire risk areas.”

1997 Landscape Vegetation Database row: Larix spp. (Larch). Preserved UCFPL transcription marker: U3.

Listed without a rating (10)

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

10 cited rows from this source; its identity, lineage and tier are stated once.
- “calorific value (kcal/kg): 2928.25” · score 2928.25 (FLAMITS — calorific value (kcal/kg))
  
  FLAMITS record 3606; Combustibility measurement; plant part bark; fuel dead; predrying no; device thermal analyzer; site Gani2007-1; sampling ND. Primary study Gani2007: Gani, A., & Naruse, I. (2007). Effect of cellulose and lignin content on pyrolysis and combustion characteristics for several types of biomass. Renewable energy, 32, 649-661.
- “time to flaming (s): 1215” · score 1215 (FLAMITS — time to flaming (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 19128; Ignitability measurement; plant part wood; fuel dead; predrying yes; device calorimeter; site Hao2020-1; sampling ND. Primary study Hao2020: Hao, H., Chow, C. L., & Lau, D. (2020). Effect of heat flux on combustion of different wood species. Fuel, 278, 118325.
- “time to flaming (s): 65” · score 65 (FLAMITS — time to flaming (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 19129; Ignitability measurement; plant part wood; fuel dead; predrying yes; device calorimeter; site Hao2020-1; sampling ND. Primary study Hao2020: Hao, H., Chow, C. L., & Lau, D. (2020). Effect of heat flux on combustion of different wood species. Fuel, 278, 118325.
- “time to flaming (s): 25” · score 25 (FLAMITS — time to flaming (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 19130; Ignitability measurement; plant part wood; fuel dead; predrying yes; device calorimeter; site Hao2020-1; sampling ND. Primary study Hao2020: Hao, H., Chow, C. L., & Lau, D. (2020). Effect of heat flux on combustion of different wood species. Fuel, 278, 118325.
- “energy flux (kW/m²): 117.4” · score 117.4 (FLAMITS — energy flux (kW/m²))
  
  FLAMITS record 19137; Combustibility measurement; plant part wood; fuel dead; predrying yes; device calorimeter; site Hao2020-1; sampling ND. Primary study Hao2020: Hao, H., Chow, C. L., & Lau, D. (2020). Effect of heat flux on combustion of different wood species. Fuel, 278, 118325.
- “energy flux (kW/m²): 127.1” · score 127.1 (FLAMITS — energy flux (kW/m²))
  
  FLAMITS record 19138; Combustibility measurement; plant part wood; fuel dead; predrying yes; device calorimeter; site Hao2020-1; sampling ND. Primary study Hao2020: Hao, H., Chow, C. L., & Lau, D. (2020). Effect of heat flux on combustion of different wood species. Fuel, 278, 118325.
- “energy flux (kW/m²): 261.1” · score 261.1 (FLAMITS — energy flux (kW/m²))
  
  FLAMITS record 19139; Combustibility measurement; plant part wood; fuel dead; predrying yes; device calorimeter; site Hao2020-1; sampling ND. Primary study Hao2020: Hao, H., Chow, C. L., & Lau, D. (2020). Effect of heat flux on combustion of different wood species. Fuel, 278, 118325.
- “mass loss rate (g/s): 0.02” · score 0.02 (FLAMITS — mass loss rate (g/s))
  
  FLAMITS record 19146; Combustibility measurement; plant part wood; fuel dead; predrying yes; device calorimeter; site Hao2020-1; sampling ND. Primary study Hao2020: Hao, H., Chow, C. L., & Lau, D. (2020). Effect of heat flux on combustion of different wood species. Fuel, 278, 118325.
- “mass loss rate (g/s): 0.07” · score 0.07 (FLAMITS — mass loss rate (g/s))
  
  FLAMITS record 19147; Combustibility measurement; plant part wood; fuel dead; predrying yes; device calorimeter; site Hao2020-1; sampling ND. Primary study Hao2020: Hao, H., Chow, C. L., & Lau, D. (2020). Effect of heat flux on combustion of different wood species. Fuel, 278, 118325.
- “mass loss rate (g/s): 0.08” · score 0.08 (FLAMITS — mass loss rate (g/s))
  
  FLAMITS record 19148; Combustibility measurement; plant part wood; fuel dead; predrying yes; device calorimeter; site Hao2020-1; sampling ND. Primary study Hao2020: Hao, H., Chow, C. L., & Lau, D. (2020). Effect of heat flux on combustion of different wood species. Fuel, 278, 118325.

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

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

Profiles: GBIF ·

Larix (Larch). FireApproved. https://fireapproved.com/plants/larix/. Last verified 2026-08-25.