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American sweetgum

Liquidambar styraciflua · Altingiaceae · all Liquidambar 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: Fire-resistant — location does not change the cited classification.
Fire-performance conditions: 1 condition stated in cited fire-evidence rows.
Fire ecology context: No section-reviewed fire-ecology context is normalized.
Placement evidence: 10 source placement records; source schemes remain separate.
Evidence regions: British Columbia; Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa; Catalonia, Spain; Global; Maryland, New Jersey, and West Virginia; Michigan / Great Lakes; NC; New Zealand; North Carolina; North Carolina / southeastern US; OR/WA/ID; Ohio / Midwest; Oregon; Pacific Northwest (Oregon / Washington / Idaho); SoCal; Tasmania, Australia; Tennessee; Virginia / Mid-Atlantic; Yavapai County, Arizona; eastern US; eastern WA; southern Idaho / Intermountain
Maintenance: No sourced horticultural maintenance assertion is normalized; fire-test conditions do not supply maintenance advice.

Typed publication scope: 12 scopes across 10 cited fire sources

Fire Resistance of Plants Master Database · Official scoped edition
- 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.
Firewise Landscaping Plants (Maryland, New Jersey, and West Virginia editions) · Official scoped edition
- MD; partial normalized coverage · 2015-01-08
  Maryland Forest Service says the list contains plants that can be grown in Maryland and identifies Maryland natives. FireApproved publishes 169 exact source owners from the 180 printed rows; an unrepresentable form and duplicate-owner rows are not broadened. The list calls itself non-comprehensive and does not establish suitability for every Maryland site.
- NJ; partial normalized coverage
  New Jersey DEP publishes a state edition saying the listed plants can be grown in New Jersey and are relatively resistant to fire. Its same 180 printed taxon occurrences map to the 169 conservative owners already normalized for the template family. The list is non-comprehensive and does not establish suitability for every New Jersey site or override the Pinelands Commission's separate placement and fuel-break rules.
- WV; partial normalized coverage · 2026-08-26
  West Virginia Division of Forestry publishes a state edition saying the listed plants can be grown in West Virginia and are relatively resistant to fire. Its same 180 printed taxon occurrences map to the 169 conservative owners already normalized for the template family. The list is non-comprehensive and provides no comparative or site-specific rating.
Wildfire-resistant Landscape Plants for Michigan (Extension Bulletin E2948) · Official scoped edition
- MI; partial normalized coverage · 2007-01-01
  Michigan State University Extension Bulletin E2948 is explicitly a list of wildfire-resistant landscape plants for Michigan and includes a Michigan-native field. FireApproved publishes 221 exact GBIF owners from 226 represented source rows and holds 15 complex or non-exact rows. This dated publication scope is not a current site-suitability determination.
Fire-Resistant Landscaping in North Carolina (AG-874) · Official scoped edition
- NC; complete normalized coverage · 2025-03-26
  The complete three-table AG-874 plant list is explicitly for North Carolina and contains 202 low-, medium-, or high-flammability rows. FireApproved accounts for all source rows under its strict taxonomy and lineage rules; source scope does not establish local suitability at a particular North Carolina site.
Firewise Landscaping (OSU Extension Bulletin 921) · Official scoped edition
- OH; partial normalized coverage · 2006-03-01
  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.
Fire-Resistant Plants for Home Landscapes (PNW 590) · Official scoped edition
- ID, OR, WA; partial normalized coverage · 2023-10-01
  The October 2023 joint Pacific Northwest Extension publication explicitly names Oregon, Washington, and Idaho and publishes more than 150 plant profiles. FireApproved has normalized 155 exact plant records from the source; publication scope does not assert that every listed plant suits every site within the three states.
Landscaping Guidelines to Protect Your Home from Wildfire (SP685) · Official scoped edition
- TN; partial normalized coverage · 2006-10-24
  University of Tennessee Extension SP685 is Tennessee landscape guidance and publishes 78 represented plant owners. Most table rows are a carrier of Virginia Firescapes rather than an independent rating; Tennessee source scope does not change that lineage or establish site suitability.
Virginia Firescapes — Firewise Landscaping for Woodland Homes (430-300) · Official scoped edition
- VA; partial normalized coverage · 2009-04-15
  Virginia Cooperative Extension's publication opens with Virginia wildfire conditions, identifies its Virginia Firewise Landscaping Task Force, and labels plants native to Virginia. FireApproved publishes 306 exact source owners. Publication scope does not establish parcel suitability or current endorsement of this archived 2009 list.
Fire-Resistant Plants for Eastern Washington · Official scoped edition
- Eastern Washington (WA footprint); partial normalized coverage
  Washington DNR publishes the guide for Eastern Washington and says it compiles plants from other Firewise documents that are likely to thrive there. FireApproved publishes 46 exact owners only as eastern Washington context. The rows are corroborative, not empirical or statewide.
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 AL, AR, CA, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, KY, LA, MA, MD, MO, MS, NC, NJ, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, WA, WV.
Native range: Current cited native range in AL, AR, CT, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, LA, MD, MO, MS, NC, OK, PA, SC, TN, TX, WV.
Introduced / established: 1 sourced range or established record; set a location to match them. This is not an invasive warning.
USDA hardiness: 3 applicable cited hardiness statements overlap but have different boundaries; compare each complete source row.

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.

Fire-resistant. Recommended by 4 of 5 independent primary-evidence lineages; Guía de pirojardinería dissents. The majority direction lists it — the dissent is shown in full below, never averaged away.

▲ the PNW-590 regional list ▲ the Eastern US Fire Performance Plant Selector ▲ North Carolina's Bardon 2005 list ▲ Michigan's E2948 list ▼ Guía de pirojardinería ◆ the Idaho Firewise field scores · fire-tested ◆ the Tasmania Fire Service list ◆ New Zealand's FENZ laboratory directory · fire-tested ◆ Time to extinguish the exotic flame: Lessons from the 202… · fire-tested

Computed class: Fire-resistant (majority) — derived from the cited evidence by a published rule, never hand-assigned. Each chip above is one independent primary-evidence lineage and its direction. No plant is fireproof; condition and placement govern. Zone 0 is hardscape regardless.

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.

American sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) — Photo: (c) Sandy Wolkenberg, some rights reserved (CC BY) (CC BY), via iNaturalist. Species-typical, not necessarily this cultivar.

Form: tree
USDA hardiness: Applicable source statements overlap but have different boundaries; compare each source
Mature height: ~100 ft
Water need: high
Current cited native range: AL, AR, CT, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, LA, MD, MO, MS, NC, OK, PA, SC, TN, TX, WV
Grows in: AL, AR, CA, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA +23
Rated in: British Columbia; Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa; Catalonia, Spain; Global +18
Family: Altingiaceae
Evidence: 27 cited sources

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.

Current native

19

exact source areas

Current introduced

1

exact source area

Qualified

0

doubtful or extinct source rows

19 native source areas · World Checklist of Vascular Plants, version 16 v16, as of 2026-06-04

Alabama (AL)
Arkansas (AR)
Connecticut (CT)
Florida (FL)
Georgia (GA)
Illinois (IL)
Indiana (IN)
Kentucky (KY)
Louisiana (LA)
Maryland (MD)
Missouri (MO)
Mississippi (MS)
North Carolina (NC)
Oklahoma (OK)
Pennsylvania (PA)
South Carolina (SC)
Tennessee (TN)
Texas (TX)
West Virginia (WV)

1 introduced source area · World Checklist of Vascular Plants, version 16 v16, as of 2026-06-04

New York (NY)

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.

Eastern United States Fire Performance Plant Selector · record liquidambar-styraciflua · 2016-wayback · as of 2026-08-26

Source prints 6 · single-value meaning unresolved · whole zone precision · source stated

Source taxon: Liquidambar styraciflua · 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.
Wildfire-resistant Landscape Plants for Michigan (Extension Bulletin E2948) · record tree:Liquidambar styraciflua · New, January 2007 · as of 2026-08-26

5–9 explicit range · whole zone precision · source stated

Source taxon: Liquidambar styraciflua · exact match.

Source location: Table 1, tree row.
Fire-Resistant Plants for Home Landscapes (PNW 590) · record trees:American sweetgum · 2023-10 · as of 2026-08-26

5–9 explicit range · whole zone precision · source stated

Source taxon: Liquidambar styraciflua · exact match.

Source location: American sweetgum profile, USDA hardiness zones field.
USDA PLANTS Database — Plant Characteristics · record LIST2 · PLANTS Help Document 2022; characteristics cache retrieved 2026-08-23 · as of 2026-08-26

Minimum 4b · no upper limit documented · half zone precision · derived containing band

Exact source measurement: -21°F; mapped only to its containing half-zone.

Source taxon: Liquidambar styraciflua · source identifier match.

Source location: PlantCharacteristics record 70557, Temperature, Minimum (°F).

Conditions in the fire evidence

These describe tested or rated plant material. They are not horticultural maintenance instructions.

green: Fire-Resistant Plants for Oregon Home Landscapes evidence row

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 3 — 10–30 ft from the structure; thin vegetation, remove debris, and minimize plant massing [Fire Performance Plant Selector landscape zone] (with its recommendation)
Fire Resistance of Plants Master Database: plantable at 70' from home [Idaho minimum planting distance] (mid-scale rating)
Fire Resisting Garden Plants for the Urban Fringe and Rur…: should be avoided in the Building Protection Zone [Texas Building Protection Zone] (mid-scale rating)
FireSmart BC Plant Program: suitable for HIZ extended zone and beyond [FireSmart BC Home Ignition Zone] (with its recommendation)
Fire-Resistant Plants for Oregon Home Landscapes: Southern and Western Oregon [osu-frn6-oregon-regions] (with its recommendation)
Guía de pirojardinería: not suitable inside the 25-metre maximum-risk zone [girona-2020-iuf-25m-suitability] (with its avoid rating)
Time to extinguish the exotic flame: Lessons from the 202…: Urban zone; Table 1 and deposited raw workbook [macalister-2025-leaf-flammability] (mid-scale rating)
Fire-resistant plant profile galleries: American sweetgum — Liquidambar styraciflua [osu-2023-trees-gallery] (with its recommendation)
North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: liquidambar-styraciflua [nc-toolbox-flammability-facet] (with its recommendation)
Firewise Landscaping Plants: Deciduous Trees [Maryland Firewise plant-form tables] (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 (2)

Guía de pirojardinería — guía práctica de jardinería adaptada a la prevención de incendios forestales — Diputació de Girona and Bombers de la Generalitat de Catalunya · 2020 Spanish edition · original source Primary evidence Expert-curated lineage: elvira-hernando-1989 + cooperem-tree

“DESACONSEJADA”

Liquidambar styraciflua is rated “DESACONSEJADA” by the guide's qualitative IUF garden-suitability method. The method assumes species-specific care and integrates fire evidence with fuel structure, maintenance, origin, invasiveness, and expert fire-service experience.
Fire-Resistant and Fire-Prone Plants Common to Yavapai County (Bulletin 34) — University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, Yavapai County · v1.2 · original source Corroboration Expert-curated lineage: unknown

“Fire-Prone Plants”

Listed as Sweetgum — Liquidambar styraciflua. The bulletin says fire-resistant plants tend to resist ignition when irrigated and maintained, while fire-prone plants may ignite readily and burn intensely.

Mid-scale / conditional (4)

Fire Resistance of Plants Master Database — Idaho Firewise (BLM + College of Western Idaho + Idaho Botanical Garden) · original source Primary evidence Field program lineage: idaho-tree

“fire-resistance score 4 of 10” · score 4 (idaho-0-10)
Fire Resisting Garden Plants for the Urban Fringe and Rural Areas — Tasmania Fire Service (Chladil & Sheridan; photographs Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens) · 2017 · original source Primary evidence Expert-curated lineage: utas-tree

“Moderate Flammability”
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

“Moderate flammability”

Moderate flammability classification.
Time to extinguish the exotic flame: Lessons from the 2021 Cape Town fire — South African Journal of Botany / University of Cape Town · South African Journal of Botany 184:1163-1173 · original source Primary evidence Lab-tested lineage: independent (UCT post-Table-Mountain-fire study)

“Didn't burn”

Official-workbook means across 50 leaf trials: fresh ignition 3.937 s, fresh sustainability 25.688 s, dry ignition 1.281 s, dry sustainability 12.797 s, and combustibility 59.849 mg DW s-1. Published Table 1 observation for the 2021 fire: Didn't burn.

Listed without a rating (6)

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

6 cited rows from this source; its identity, lineage and tier are stated once.
- “calorific value (kcal/kg): 4709” · score 4709 (FLAMITS — calorific value (kcal/kg))
  
  FLAMITS record 5011; Combustibility measurement; plant part bark; fuel all; predrying yes; device calorimeter; site Hough1969-2; sampling january. Primary study Hough1969: Hough, W. A. (1969). Caloric Value of Some Forest Fuels of the Southern United States. Res. Note SE-120. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southeastern Forest Experiment Station.
- “calorific value (kcal/kg): 3810” · score 3810 (FLAMITS — calorific value (kcal/kg))
  
  FLAMITS record 5012; Combustibility measurement; plant part bark; fuel all; predrying yes; device calorimeter; site Hough1969-2; sampling january. Primary study Hough1969: Hough, W. A. (1969). Caloric Value of Some Forest Fuels of the Southern United States. Res. Note SE-120. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southeastern Forest Experiment Station.
- “flame height (cm): 4.51” · score 4.51 (FLAMITS — flame height (cm))
  
  FLAMITS record 9232; Combustibility measurement; plant part litter; fuel all; predrying no; device burning bench; site Mola2014-1; sampling may and june. Primary study Mola2014: Mola, J. M., Varner, J. M., Jules, E. S., & Spector, T. (2014). Altered Community Flammability in Florida's Apalachicola Ravines and Implications for the Persistence of the Endangered Conifer Torreya taxifolia. Plos One, 9, 8.
- “flaming duration (s): 48.2” · score 48.2 (FLAMITS — flaming duration (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 9249; Sustainability measurement; plant part litter; fuel all; predrying no; device burning bench; site Mola2014-1; sampling may and june. Primary study Mola2014: Mola, J. M., Varner, J. M., Jules, E. S., & Spector, T. (2014). Altered Community Flammability in Florida's Apalachicola Ravines and Implications for the Persistence of the Endangered Conifer Torreya taxifolia. Plos One, 9, 8.
- “burnt biomass (%): 99.13” · score 99.13 (FLAMITS — burnt biomass (%))
  
  FLAMITS record 9266; Consumability measurement; plant part litter; fuel all; predrying no; device burning bench; site Mola2014-1; sampling may and june. Primary study Mola2014: Mola, J. M., Varner, J. M., Jules, E. S., & Spector, T. (2014). Altered Community Flammability in Florida's Apalachicola Ravines and Implications for the Persistence of the Endangered Conifer Torreya taxifolia. Plos One, 9, 8.
- “time to smouldering (s): 288.6” · score 288.6 (FLAMITS — time to smouldering (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 9283; Ignitability measurement; plant part litter; fuel all; predrying no; device burning bench; site Mola2014-1; sampling may and june. Primary study Mola2014: Mola, J. M., Varner, J. M., Jules, E. S., & Spector, T. (2014). Altered Community Flammability in Florida's Apalachicola Ravines and Implications for the Persistence of the Endangered Conifer Torreya taxifolia. Plos One, 9, 8.

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

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Liquidambar styraciflua (American sweetgum). FireApproved. https://fireapproved.com/plants/liquidambar-styraciflua/. Last verified 2026-08-23.