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Umbrella-tree is rated fire resistant overall, although one eastern plant selector classifies it as At Risk.
Three of four assessments favor resistance. Ohio State University Extension gives Magnolia tripetala an L, placing it on the recommended side of a five-band flammability scale. Virginia Cooperative Extension also assigns an L, the favorable result on its three-point scale. Maryland, New Jersey, and West Virginia agencies call the tree relatively resistant to fire and include it among species with stronger resistance to wildfire ignition.
The caution comes from the USDA Forest Service and state Firewise programs. Their four-level selector gives umbrella-tree a 3, explicitly defined as At Risk. The labels are not interchangeable because the published scales differ, while the three-state guide offers an affirmative list without a comparative scale or row-level method. The Forest Service classification therefore remains a meaningful counterpoint rather than canceling the favorable ratings.
Umbrella-tree is a member of the magnolia family and grows to about 30 feet at maturity. It needs full sun and moderate water and is hardy to USDA zone 5a. The assessments support calling it fire resistant, but only with qualification: the favorable majority rests on expert and compiled judgments, and the Forest Service selector does not place it in its safer categories.
Form
tree
Mature height
~30 ft
Light
Full sun
Water need
moderate
Rated in
Maryland, New Jersey, and West Virginia; Ohio / Midwest; Virginia / Mid-Atlantic; eastern US
On this lot
1. Fire evidence and conditions
Fire evidence
Fire-resistant — location does not change the cited classification.
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.
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.
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.
2. Why this plant is relevant here
State distribution
Documented in AL, AR, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, IN, KY, MA, MD, MO, MS, NC, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, SC, TN, VA, WV.
Native range
Current cited native range in AL, AR, FL, GA, IN, KY, MD, MS, NC, NY, OH, OK, PA, SC, TN, VA, WV.
Introduced / established
1 sourced range or established record. This is not an invasive warning.
USDA hardiness
Documented minimum 6b; 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 prints 5 · single-value meaning unresolved · whole zone precision · source stated
Source taxon: Magnolia tripetala · 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.
Source location: PlantCharacteristics record 71577, 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.
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] (mid-scale rating)
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.
Listed as Magnolia tripetala (Umbrella Magnolia). The source says listed species exhibit stronger resistance to ignition by wildfires. Source comments: Coarse texture
Largest flowers of the native magnolias. Flowers are odoriferous. Foliage is concentrated at terminal ends of twigs. Large purple glabrous terminal buds.
