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Flax

Phormium tenax · Asphodelaceae · all Phormium records · also called Harakeke, Kōrari

Your local evidence lens

Separate evidence questions, never one approval badge

Set a ZIP to compare this record with state distribution, native range, USDA hardiness, and invasive records.

A genus split is not a placement verdict. Set a ZIP to read the local documented split.

1. Fire evidence and conditions

Fire evidence: Fire-resistant — location does not change the cited classification.
Fire-performance conditions: No test or rating condition is normalized.
Fire ecology context: No section-reviewed fire-ecology context is normalized.
Placement evidence: 1 source placement record; source schemes remain separate.
Evidence regions: Australia; Catalonia, Spain; Global; New Zealand
Maintenance: No sourced horticultural maintenance assertion is normalized; fire-test conditions do not supply maintenance advice.

2. Why this plant is relevant here

State distribution: Documented in HI.
Native range: No current cited or legacy state native range is normalized.
Introduced / established: 1 sourced range or established record; set a location to match them. This is not an invasive warning.
USDA hardiness: No hardiness value is normalized.

3. Legal, ecological, and broader status

Legal-list status: Set a location for an exact legal-list result; source silence is not clearance.
Seed-list status: Set a location to compare the separate state noxious-weed seed layer.
Reported invasive here: No ecological invasive report is normalized; that does not prove noninvasiveness.
Broader regional context: Aggregate AK, HI, and L48 evidence is shown only as regional context, never as an exact-state finding.
Federal context: Federal designations remain separate from state legal-list results.

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.

Flax (Phormium tenax) — Photo: (c) strewick, some rights reserved (CC BY) (CC BY), via iNaturalist. Species-typical, not necessarily this cultivar.

Form: shrub
Grows in: HI
Rated in: Australia; Catalonia, Spain; Global; New Zealand
Uses: ornamental
Family: Asphodelaceae
Evidence: 18 cited sources

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

0

exact source areas

Current introduced

1

exact source area

Qualified

0

doubtful or extinct source rows

1 introduced source area · World Checklist of Vascular Plants, version 16 v16, as of 2026-06-04

Hawaii (HI)

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.

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.

Guía de pirojardinería: suitable inside or outside the 25-metre maximum-risk zone [girona-2020-iuf-25m-suitability] (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.

Mid-scale / conditional (1)

Low Flammability Plants directory — Fire and Emergency New Zealand (plant flammability testing at Lincoln University) · 2026 · original source Primary evidence Lab-tested lineage: lincoln-nz-tree

“Moderate/high flammability”

Moderate/high flammability classification.

Listed without a rating (14)

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

14 cited rows from this source; its identity, lineage and tier are stated once.
- “ignition frequency (%): 50” · score 50 (FLAMITS — ignition frequency (%))
  
  FLAMITS record 1449; Ignitability measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Cui2020a-1; sampling ND. 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.
- “maximum sample temperature (°C): 246.6” · score 246.6 (FLAMITS — maximum sample temperature (°C))
  
  FLAMITS record 1643; Combustibility measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Cui2020a-1; sampling ND. 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.
- “burning duration (s): 2.4” · score 2.4 (FLAMITS — burning duration (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 1837; Sustainability measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Cui2020a-1; sampling ND. 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.
- “estimated burnt biomass (%): 3.1” · score 3.1 (FLAMITS — estimated burnt biomass (%))
  
  FLAMITS record 2031; Consumability measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Cui2020a-1; sampling ND. 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.
- “temperature at smoke (°C): 77.38” · score 77.38 (FLAMITS — temperature at smoke (°C))
  
  FLAMITS record 8471; Ignitability measurement; plant part leaves; fuel live; predrying yes; device muffle furnace; site Mason2016-9; sampling summer. Primary study Mason2016: Mason, N. W. H., Frazao, C., Buxton, R. P., & Richardson, S. J. (2016). Fire form and function: evidence for exaptive flammability in the New Zealand flora. Plant Ecology, 217, 645-659.
- “temperature at smoke (°C): 157.2” · score 157.2 (FLAMITS — temperature at smoke (°C))
  
  FLAMITS record 8472; Ignitability measurement; plant part leaves; fuel live; predrying yes; device muffle furnace; site Mason2016-9; sampling summer. Primary study Mason2016: Mason, N. W. H., Frazao, C., Buxton, R. P., & Richardson, S. J. (2016). Fire form and function: evidence for exaptive flammability in the New Zealand flora. Plant Ecology, 217, 645-659.
- “temperature at flaming (°C): 152.2” · score 152.2 (FLAMITS — temperature at flaming (°C))
  
  FLAMITS record 8686; Ignitability measurement; plant part leaves; fuel live; predrying yes; device muffle furnace; site Mason2016-9; sampling summer. Primary study Mason2016: Mason, N. W. H., Frazao, C., Buxton, R. P., & Richardson, S. J. (2016). Fire form and function: evidence for exaptive flammability in the New Zealand flora. Plant Ecology, 217, 645-659.
- “temperature at flaming (°C): 238.1” · score 238.1 (FLAMITS — temperature at flaming (°C))
  
  FLAMITS record 8687; Ignitability measurement; plant part leaves; fuel live; predrying yes; device muffle furnace; site Mason2016-9; sampling summer. Primary study Mason2016: Mason, N. W. H., Frazao, C., Buxton, R. P., & Richardson, S. J. (2016). Fire form and function: evidence for exaptive flammability in the New Zealand flora. Plant Ecology, 217, 645-659.
- “temperature increase rate (°C/s): 20.35” · score 20.35 (FLAMITS — temperature increase rate (°C/s))
  
  FLAMITS record 8901; Combustibility measurement; plant part leaves; fuel live; predrying yes; device muffle furnace; site Mason2016-9; sampling summer. Primary study Mason2016: Mason, N. W. H., Frazao, C., Buxton, R. P., & Richardson, S. J. (2016). Fire form and function: evidence for exaptive flammability in the New Zealand flora. Plant Ecology, 217, 645-659.
- “temperature increase rate (°C/s): 14.46” · score 14.46 (FLAMITS — temperature increase rate (°C/s))
  
  FLAMITS record 8902; Combustibility measurement; plant part leaves; fuel live; predrying yes; device muffle furnace; site Mason2016-9; sampling summer. Primary study Mason2016: Mason, N. W. H., Frazao, C., Buxton, R. P., & Richardson, S. J. (2016). Fire form and function: evidence for exaptive flammability in the New Zealand flora. Plant Ecology, 217, 645-659.
- “ignition frequency (%): 25” · score 25 (FLAMITS — ignition frequency (%))
  
  FLAMITS record 14362; Ignitability measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Wyse2016-3; sampling ND. 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.
- “maximum sample temperature (°C): 127” · score 127 (FLAMITS — maximum sample temperature (°C))
  
  FLAMITS record 14422; Combustibility measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Wyse2016-3; sampling ND. 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.
- “burning duration (s): 2.3” · score 2.3 (FLAMITS — burning duration (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 14482; Sustainability measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Wyse2016-3; sampling ND. 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.
- “estimated burnt biomass (%): 0.9” · score 0.9 (FLAMITS — estimated burnt biomass (%))
  
  FLAMITS record 14542; Consumability measurement; plant part branches; fuel all; predrying yes; device grill; site Wyse2016-3; sampling ND. 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.

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

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Phormium tenax (Flax, Harakeke, Kōrari). FireApproved. https://fireapproved.com/plants/phormium-tenax/. Last verified 2026-08-23.