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.
2. Why this plant is relevant here
State distribution
Documented in AL, FL, GA, LA, MS, NC, SC, VA.
Native range
Current cited native range in AL, FL, GA, LA, MS, NC, SC, VA.
Introduced / established
USDA hardiness
Documented minimum 7a; no upper limit is documented.
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.
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 location: PlantCharacteristics record 65276, Temperature, Minimum (°F).
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.
North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: lyonia-lucida [nc-toolbox-flammability-facet] (mid-scale 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.
16 cited rows from this source; its identity, lineage and tier are stated once.
“calorific value (kcal/kg): 4970”
FLAMITS record 5007; Combustibility measurement; plant part leaves; fuel all; predrying yes; device calorimeter; site Hough1969-6; sampling march. 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.
Primary study McAllister2017: McAllister, S., & Weise, D. (2017). Effects of season on ignition of live wildland fuels using the forced ignition and flame spread test apparatus. Combustion Science and Technology, 189, 231-247.
Shared row context: Ignitability measurement; plant part leaves; fuel live; predrying no; device scale wind tunnel; site McAllister2017-3.
Shared measurement context: sampling may.
“time to flaming (s): 13.18”
FLAMITS record 9140.
“time to flaming (s): 23.48”
FLAMITS record 9150.
“time to flaming (s): 13.22”
FLAMITS record 9141; sampling june.
“time to flaming (s): 16.23”
FLAMITS record 9142; sampling july.
“time to flaming (s): 18.89”
FLAMITS record 9143; sampling august.
“time to flaming (s): 18.39”
FLAMITS record 9144; sampling september.
“time to flaming (s): 18.34”
FLAMITS record 9145; sampling october.
“time to flaming (s): 19.61”
FLAMITS record 9146; sampling november.
“time to flaming (s): 18.43”
FLAMITS record 9147; sampling december.
“time to flaming (s): 19.19”
FLAMITS record 9148; sampling march.
“time to flaming (s): 21.2”
FLAMITS record 9149; sampling april.
Primary study Safdari2018: Safdari, M.-S., Rahmati, M., Amini, E., Howarth, J. E., Berryhill, J. P., Dietenberger, M., Fletcher, T. H. (2018). Characterization of pyrolysis products from fast pyrolysis of live and dead vegetation native to the Southern United States. Fuel, 229, 151166.
Shared row context: Combustibility measurement; plant part leaves; fuel live; predrying no; device flat flame burner; site Safdari2018-1; sampling ND.
“calorific value (kcal/kg): 4541.114”
FLAMITS record 17996.
“calorific value (kcal/kg): 4916.35342”
FLAMITS record 18010.
Primary study Pickett2010: Pickett, B. M., Isackson, C., Wunder, R., Fletcher, T. H., Butler, B. W., & Weise, D. R. (2010). Experimental measurements during combustion of moist individual foliage samples. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 19, 153-162 .
Shared row context: Combustibility measurement; plant part twigs; fuel live; predrying no; device flat flame burner; site Pickett2010-3; sampling ND.
