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buckbean

Menyanthes trifoliata · Menyanthaceae · also called Menyanthes trifoliata · Wikipedia

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Is this one for your yard?

Enter your ZIP to see whether this is legal to plant in your state, and whether it survives your winter.

Form
perennial
Mature height
~0.8 ft
Water need
high
Rated in
Global
On this lot

1. Fire evidence and conditions

Fire evidence
Mixed evidence — location does not change the cited classification.
Evidence regions
Global

2. Why this plant is relevant here

State distribution
Documented in AK, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, IA, ID, IL, IN, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MT, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OR, PA, RI, SD, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV, WY.
Native range
Current cited native range in AK, AZ, CA, CO, CT, IA, ID, IN, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MT, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OR, PA, RI, SD, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV, WY.
USDA hardiness
Documented minimum 3b; no upper limit is documented.

3. Legal, ecological, and broader status

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.

Current native

36

exact source areas

Current introduced

0

exact source areas

Qualified

1

doubtful or extinct source row

37 native source areas · World Checklist of Vascular Plants, version 16 v16, as of 2026-06-04
  • Aleutian Is. (AK)
  • Alaska (AK)
  • Arizona (AZ)
  • California (CA)
  • Colorado (CO)
  • Connecticut (CT)
  • Delaware (DE) extinct
  • Iowa (IA)
  • Idaho (ID)
  • Indiana (IN)
  • Massachusetts (MA)
  • Maryland (MD)
  • Maine (ME)
  • Michigan (MI)
  • Minnesota (MN)
  • Missouri (MO)
  • Montana (MT)
  • North Carolina (NC)
  • North Dakota (ND)
  • Nebraska (NE)
  • New Hampshire (NH)
  • New Jersey (NJ)
  • New Mexico (NM)
  • Nevada (NV)
  • New York (NY)
  • Ohio (OH)
  • Oregon (OR)
  • Pennsylvania (PA)
  • Rhode I. (RI)
  • South Dakota (SD)
  • Utah (UT)
  • Virginia (VA)
  • Vermont (VT)
  • Washington (WA)
  • Wisconsin (WI)
  • West Virginia (WV)
  • Wyoming (WY)

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.

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 without a rating (24)
Corroboration (24 rows from 1 source)

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

    24 cited rows from this source; its identity, lineage and tier are stated once.

    • Primary study Wesolowski2003: Weso?owski, M., & Konieczynski, P. (2003). Thermal decomposition and elemental composition of medicinal plant materials—Leaves and flowers Principal component analysis of the results. Thermochimica Acta, 397, 171–180.

      Shared row context: plant part leaves; fuel live; predrying yes; device thermal analyzer; site Wesolowski2003-1; sampling ND.

      • Shared measurement context: consumability measurement.

        • “burnt biomass (%): 6”

          FLAMITS record 18369.

        • “burnt biomass (%): 7.5”

          FLAMITS record 18370.

        • “burnt biomass (%): 51.5”

          FLAMITS record 18396.

        • “burnt biomass (%): 53.5”

          FLAMITS record 18397.

        • “burnt biomass (%): 33”

          FLAMITS record 18423.

        • “burnt biomass (%): 31.5”

          FLAMITS record 18424.

      • Shared measurement context: Combustibility measurement.

        • “maximum flame temperature (°C): 65”

          FLAMITS record 18450.

        • “maximum flame temperature (°C): 80”

          FLAMITS record 18451.

        • “maximum flame temperature (°C): 220”

          FLAMITS record 18477.

        • “maximum flame temperature (°C): 270”

          FLAMITS record 18478.

        • “maximum flame temperature (°C): 395”

          FLAMITS record 18504.

        • “maximum flame temperature (°C): 435”

          FLAMITS record 18505.

        • “flame height (cm): 0.5”

          FLAMITS record 18531.

        • “flame height (cm): 0.8”

          FLAMITS record 18532.

        • “flame height (cm): 2.3”

          FLAMITS record 18558.

        • “flame height (cm): 3.1”

          FLAMITS record 18559.

        • “flame height (cm): 1.3”

          FLAMITS record 18585.

        • “flame height (cm): 1.2”

          FLAMITS record 18586.

        • “maximum flame temperature (°C): 85”

          FLAMITS record 18612.

        • “maximum flame temperature (°C): 90”

          FLAMITS record 18613.

        • “maximum flame temperature (°C): 280”

          FLAMITS record 18639.

        • “maximum flame temperature (°C): 275”

          FLAMITS record 18640.

        • “maximum flame temperature (°C): 425”

          FLAMITS record 18666.

        • “maximum flame temperature (°C): 425”

          FLAMITS record 18667.

Fire-resistant perennials instead

fireweed
Epilobium angustifolium western pearly everlasting
Anaphalis margaritacea Indianhemp
Apocynum cannabinum swamp verbena
Verbena hastata smooth blue aster
Symphyotrichum (f. Aster) laeve wild bergamot
Monarda fistulosa

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

Profiles: USDA PLANTS · GBIF · iNaturalist · Wikidata · Wikipedia · ITIS

Menyanthes trifoliata (Menyanthes trifoliata). FireApproved. https://fireapproved.com/plants/menyanthes-trifoliata/. Last verified 2026-08-25.