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Amur chokecherry has qualified support for firewise planting, but the available guidance does not settle that it is fire resistant.
FireSmart BC calls the tree a “FireSmart-approved fire-resistant plant,” yet also flags it as needing more research. Its compiled chart uses a simple approval system tied to suitability within different Home Ignition Zones, so the approval is practical planting guidance rather than a final answer to every question about how the tree burns.
Alaska’s forestry program also includes Amur chokecherry among plants that may be used in firewise landscapes, but only when placed and maintained appropriately. That condition belongs with Alaska’s finding: the source does not present the tree as resistant regardless of its location or care. Together, the two institutions give Amur chokecherry some support for firewise use, while one expressly leaves the research unfinished.
Amur chokecherry is a tree in the rose family, and it has also been flagged as invasive in 1 jurisdiction. The sensible reading is cautious: it may be suitable in a firewise landscape under the stated conditions, but calling it conclusively fire resistant goes beyond what the guidance establishes.
Form
tree
Rated in
Alaska; British Columbia
On this lot
1. Fire evidence and conditions
Fire evidence
Mixed evidence — location does not change the cited classification.
Alaska Division of Forestry opens with the wildfire threat to Alaskans and publishes Alaska firewise-landscape examples. FireApproved publishes 58 exact source owners from its 60 taxon entries and holds the taxon-free fern label. State publication scope does not establish suitability for every Alaska climate, site, or home-ignition-zone placement.
2. Why this plant is relevant here
State distribution
Documented in WA, OR, ID.
Native range
Introduced / established
USDA hardiness
3. Legal, ecological, and broader status
Legal-list status
Seed-list status
Reported invasive here
1 ecological invasive report.
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.
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.
Protect Your Home from Wildfire: Trees [Alaska DNR brochure sections] (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.
