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Pohutukawa is rated fire resistant, although laboratory testing also places it in a moderate flammability category.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand classifies the tree as having low-to-moderate flammability, within the favorable side of its seven-level scale. Fire Safe Marin also lists Pohutukawa as fire resistant, while warning that placement, spacing, irrigation, and removal of dead material still matter.
The laboratory findings add caution rather than overturning those recommendations. An International Journal of Wildland Fire study placed Pohutukawa shoots in its moderate cluster after samples were air-dried for 24 hours. Another experiment recorded an ignition frequency of 85.7 percent for predried branches tested over a grill. That figure describes ignition under a particular test setup; the global database reporting it does not set a common threshold that turns measurements from different plant parts and devices into resistant or hazardous verdicts.
Taken together, the sources support choosing Pohutukawa as a fire-resistant tree, but not treating it as fireproof. Its favorable rating rests on limited primary testing, and the moderate laboratory result shows why good spacing, irrigation, and removal of dead material remain part of the decision.
Form
tree
Region
New Zealand
Rated in
Global; Marin County, California; New Zealand
Uses
ornamental
On this lot
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
Placement evidence
Evidence regions
Global; Marin County, California; New Zealand
Maintenance
Typed publication scope: 1 scope across 1 cited fire source
Marin County (CA footprint); partial normalized coverage · 2019-01-01
The publication is explicitly limited to plants common to Marin County. FireApproved publishes 104 exact owners as Marin regional context while retaining its placement, spacing, irrigation, and maintenance boundary. It is not statewide California guidance or parcel suitability.
2. Why this plant is relevant here
State distribution
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.
Conditions in the fire evidence
These describe tested or rated plant material. They are not horticultural maintenance instructions.
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.
Recommends (2)
Low Flammability Plants directory — Fire and Emergency New Zealand (plant flammability testing at Lincoln University) · 2026 · original sourcePrimary evidenceLab-testedlineage: lincoln-nz-tree
8 cited rows from this source; its identity, lineage and tier are stated once.
Primary study Cui2020a: Cui, X., Paterson, A. M., Wyse, S. V., Alam, M. A., Maurin, K. J. L., Pieper, R., ... Curran, T. J. (2020a). Shoot flammability of vascular plants is phylogenetically conserved and related to habitat fire-proneness and growth form. Nature Plants, 6, 355-359.
Shared row context: plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Cui2020a-1; sampling ND.
“ignition frequency (%): 85.7”
FLAMITS record 1433; Ignitability measurement.
“maximum sample temperature (°C): 397.6”
FLAMITS record 1627; Combustibility measurement.
“burning duration (s): 12.5”
FLAMITS record 1821; Sustainability measurement.
“estimated burnt biomass (%): 13.2”
FLAMITS record 2015; Consumability measurement.
Primary study Wyse2016: Wyse, S. V., Perry, G. L. W., O'Connell, D. M., Holland, P. S., Wright, M. J., Hosted, C. L., ... Curran, T. J. (2016). A quantitative assessment of shoot flammability for 60 tree and shrub species supports rankings based on expert opinion. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 25, 466-477.
Shared row context: plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Wyse2016-1; sampling ND.
