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Florist’s sea-lavender is rated fire resistant, though its field-trial score lands in the mixed band.
Three sources recommend this perennial in the Plumbaginaceae family. FireSmart BC calls it an approved fire-resistant plant. Utah State University Extension says it can be firewise when properly used and maintained. The University of Nevada Cooperative Extension includes it because at least two cited western sources listed or favorably rated it, specifically a 1997 source and Utah State’s publication. That agreement is useful, but the Nevada finding is a compilation of earlier lists rather than a separate plant trial.
Idaho Firewise supplies the main caution. Its field-trial database gives florist’s sea-lavender a fire-resistance score of 7 out of 10. That scale connects resistance scores with minimum planting distances, and its verdict thresholds place scores from 4 through 7 in the mixed range; recommendation begins at 8.
The practical conclusion is still favorable, but qualified. Several western programs treat florist’s sea-lavender as a fire-resistant or firewise choice, while the available field score stops one point short of the recommended band. Proper use and maintenance remain part of Utah State’s recommendation, so the plant’s favorable rating should not be treated as immunity from fire.
Form
perennial
Rated in
British Columbia; Nevada / Great Basin; Utah / Intermountain West; southern Idaho / Intermountain
On this lot
1. Fire evidence and conditions
Fire evidence
Fire-resistant — location does not change the cited classification.
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.
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.
Utah State University Extension states that this fact sheet selects examples for Utah landscapes and that they require proper placement and maintenance. FireApproved publishes 83 exact source owners at Utah publication scope. The table is not a site-specific planting clearance.
2. Why this plant is relevant here
State distribution
Documented in ID.
Native range
Introduced / established
USDA hardiness
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.
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.
Fire Resistance of Plants Master Database: plantable at 40' from home [Idaho minimum planting distance] (mid-scale rating)
FireSmart BC Plant Program: suitable for HIZ extended zone (30-100 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.
