United States / Grow / Berlandier's sundrops

Berlandier's sundrops (Oenothera berlandieri)
Photo: no rights reserved (CC0), via iNaturalist. Species-typical, not necessarily this cultivar.

Berlandier's sundrops

Oenothera berlandieri (accepted: Oenothera capillifolia) · Onagraceae · all Oenothera records · also called Berlander's sundrop

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Form
perennial
Water need
low
Rated in
California; Colorado / Rocky Mountain Front Range; Georgetown, Texas
On this lot

1. Fire evidence and conditions

Fire evidence
Fire-resistant — location does not change the cited classification.
Placement evidence
4 source placement records; source schemes remain separate.
Evidence regions
California; Colorado / Rocky Mountain Front Range; Georgetown, Texas
Typed publication scope: 4 scopes across 4 cited fire sources
  • Ignition-Resistant Landscape Plants (Fact Sheet 6.305) · Official scoped edition
    • CO; partial normalized coverage · 2025-07-01

      Colorado State University Extension and the Colorado State Forest Service publish Fact Sheet 6.305 for Colorado's WUI and varied ecosystems. FireApproved exposes all 114 exact source owners at Colorado publication scope while retaining score, elevation, water, and Idaho-carrier lineage. Publication scope is not suitability for every Colorado site or zone.

  • Fire Performance of Common Plants (Guide to Plants) · Official scoped edition
    • CA; partial normalized coverage · 2026-08-29

      The guide presents itself as fire performance ratings for common landscape plants in a fire-prone California setting. FireApproved publishes 104 exact owners as republished California context. It is not an independent rating, a current endorsement, or parcel suitability.

  • Defensible Space Landscaping in the Urban/Wildland Interface: A Compilation of Fire Performance Ratings of Residential Landscape Plants · Official scoped edition
    • CA; partial normalized coverage · 1997-07-01

      The UC Forest Products Laboratory says the guide covers properties of common California landscaping plants and was prepared for California fire agencies. FireApproved publishes 130 exact owners at historical California publication scope. The report is a 1997 compilation, not a current endorsement, site rating, or independent test of every row.

  • Firewise Plant Guide · Official scoped edition
    • Sun City Texas, Georgetown (TX footprint); partial normalized coverage · 2015-01-14

      The guide is authored for the Sun City Texas community in Georgetown. FireApproved publishes 142 exact owners only as community-level context. It is an archived HOA exhibit with unknown rating lineage, not a current statewide Texas source or an independent Tier 1 determination.

2. Why this plant is relevant here

State distribution
Documented in CO.

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.

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.

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.

Recommends (4)

Corroboration (3 rows from 3 sources)
  • Defensible Space Landscaping in the Urban/Wildland Interface: A Compilation of Fire Performance Ratings of Residential Landscape Plants — University of California Forest Products Laboratory · Internal Report 36.01.137 (July 1997) · original source Corroboration Compilation lineage: ucfpl-berkeley

    “RECOMMENDED by 5 references for use in high fire risk areas.”

    1997 Landscape Vegetation Database row: Oenothera (syn Taraxia) berlandieri (syn tanacetifolia) (Mexican, tansyleaf evening primrose). Preserved UCFPL transcription marker: F5.

  • Firewise Plant Guide — Sun City Texas Firewise Group · updated January 14, 2015 · original source Corroboration HOA exhibit lineage: unknown

    “low”

    The table rates Calylophus, Square Bud Primrose — Calyophus berlandieri low for flammability hazard, defined as the ease a plant can burn at high temperatures for a prolonged time.

  • Fire Performance of Common Plants (Guide to Plants) — Diablo Firesafe Council · live page captured 2026-08-29 · original source Corroboration Mirror lineage: ucfpl-berkeley resolves to Defensible Space Landscaping in the Urban/Wildland Interface: A Compilation of Fire Performance Ratings of Residential Landscape Plants

    “Table 1: favorable fire performance rating in 3 or more references (refs 8,11,25,40,41)”

    The Diablo Firesafe Council Guide to Plants lists Oenothera berlandieri (Mexican evening primrose) as groundcover, perennial, in Table 1: plants with a favorable fire performance rating in 3 or more references. The guide cites 5 of its 57 numbered references for this row (8,11,25,40,41). The guide states the ranking terms in its underlying references were mostly undefined and makes no attempt to rank within the list, and that fire performance is compromised without maintenance.

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

Profiles: GBIF · iNaturalist · Wikidata · ITIS

Oenothera berlandieri (Berlander's sundrop). FireApproved. https://fireapproved.com/plants/oenothera-berlandieri/. Last verified 2026-08-23.