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Chestnut oak

Quercus prinus (accepted: Quercus montana) · Fagaceae · all Quercus records

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: 1 condition stated in cited fire-evidence rows.
Fire ecology context: No section-reviewed fire-ecology context is normalized.
Placement evidence: 1 source placement record; source schemes remain separate.
Evidence regions: Global; Ohio / Midwest; Virginia / Mid-Atlantic; eastern US
Maintenance: No sourced horticultural maintenance assertion is normalized; fire-test conditions do not supply maintenance advice.

Typed publication scope: 2 scopes across 2 cited fire sources

Firewise Landscaping (OSU Extension Bulletin 921) · Official scoped edition
- OH; partial normalized coverage · 2006-03-01
  Ohio State University Extension Bulletin 921 is an Ohio publication that describes Ohio fire seasons and landscape conditions and labels nativity to Ohio. FireApproved publishes 352 exact source-owning plant records from its eight rated tables. This historical publication scope does not assert current extension endorsement or that a listed plant suits every Ohio site.
Virginia Firescapes — Firewise Landscaping for Woodland Homes (430-300) · Official scoped edition
- VA; partial normalized coverage · 2009-04-15
  Virginia Cooperative Extension's publication opens with Virginia wildfire conditions, identifies its Virginia Firewise Landscaping Task Force, and labels plants native to Virginia. FireApproved publishes 306 exact source owners. Publication scope does not establish parcel suitability or current endorsement of this archived 2009 list.

2. Why this plant is relevant here

State distribution: Documented in AL, CT, DC, DE, GA, IL, IN, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MS, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, SC, TN, VA, VT, WV.
Native range: No current cited or legacy state native range is normalized.
Introduced / established: No introduced or established row is normalized; that does not prove native status.
USDA hardiness: Documented minimum 4a; no upper limit is documented.

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.

Chestnut oak (Quercus prinus) — Photo: (c) Corey Fuhrer, some rights reserved (CC BY) (CC BY), via iNaturalist. Species-typical, not necessarily this cultivar.

Form: tree
USDA hardiness: Minimum 4a; upper limit not documented
Mature height: ~50 ft
Light: Full sun
Water need: moderate
Grows in: AL, CT, DC, DE, GA, IL, IN, KY +18
Rated in: Global; Ohio / Midwest; Virginia / Mid-Atlantic; eastern US
Family: Fagaceae
Evidence: 24 cited sources

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.

Eastern United States Fire Performance Plant Selector · record quercus-prinus · 2016-wayback · as of 2026-08-26

Source prints 5 · single-value meaning unresolved · whole zone precision · source stated

Source taxon: Quercus prinus · exact match.

Source location: Cold Hardiness Zone field in the recovered selector record.

Not used for comparison: The recovered selector prints one Cold Hardiness Zone value but does not define it as a minimum threshold or a one-zone range.
USDA PLANTS Database — Plant Characteristics · record QUMO4 · PLANTS Help Document 2022; characteristics cache retrieved 2026-08-23 · as of 2026-08-26

Minimum 4a · no upper limit documented · half zone precision · derived containing band

Exact source measurement: -30°F; mapped only to its containing half-zone.

Source taxon: Quercus prinus · source identifier match.

Source location: PlantCharacteristics record 70387, Temperature, Minimum (°F).

Conditions in the fire evidence

These describe tested or rated plant material. They are not horticultural maintenance instructions.

dead material: FLAMITS: FLAMmability plant traiTS database evidence row (condition method), FLAMITS: FLAMmability plant traiTS database evidence row (condition method), FLAMITS: FLAMmability plant traiTS database evidence row (condition method), FLAMITS: FLAMmability plant traiTS database evidence row (condition method), FLAMITS: FLAMmability plant traiTS database evidence row (condition method)

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.

Eastern United States Fire Performance Plant Selector: Landscape Zone 3 — 10–30 ft from the structure; thin vegetation, remove debris, and minimize plant massing [Fire Performance Plant Selector landscape zone] (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.

Listed without a rating (21)

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

21 cited rows from this source; its identity, lineage and tier are stated once.
- “flame height (cm): 64.42” · score 64.42 (FLAMITS — flame height (cm))
  
  FLAMITS record 5504; Combustibility measurement; plant part litter; fuel live; predrying yes; device burning bench; site Kane2021-1; sampling spring. Primary study Kane2021: Kane, J. M., Kreye, J. K., Barajas-Ramirez, R., & Varner, J. M. (2021). Litter trait driven dampening of flammability following deciduous forest community shifts in eastern North America. Forest Ecology and Management, 489, 119100.
- “flame height (cm): 57.25” · score 57.25 (FLAMITS — flame height (cm))
  
  FLAMITS record 5505; Combustibility measurement; plant part litter; fuel live; predrying yes; device burning bench; site Kane2021-1; sampling spring. Primary study Kane2021: Kane, J. M., Kreye, J. K., Barajas-Ramirez, R., & Varner, J. M. (2021). Litter trait driven dampening of flammability following deciduous forest community shifts in eastern North America. Forest Ecology and Management, 489, 119100.
- “flame height (cm): 49.11” · score 49.11 (FLAMITS — flame height (cm))
  
  FLAMITS record 5506; Combustibility measurement; plant part litter; fuel live; predrying yes; device burning bench; site Kane2021-1; sampling spring. Primary study Kane2021: Kane, J. M., Kreye, J. K., Barajas-Ramirez, R., & Varner, J. M. (2021). Litter trait driven dampening of flammability following deciduous forest community shifts in eastern North America. Forest Ecology and Management, 489, 119100.
- “flaming duration (s): 39.69” · score 39.69 (FLAMITS — flaming duration (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 5519; Sustainability measurement; plant part litter; fuel live; predrying yes; device burning bench; site Kane2021-1; sampling spring. Primary study Kane2021: Kane, J. M., Kreye, J. K., Barajas-Ramirez, R., & Varner, J. M. (2021). Litter trait driven dampening of flammability following deciduous forest community shifts in eastern North America. Forest Ecology and Management, 489, 119100.
- “flaming duration (s): 64.36” · score 64.36 (FLAMITS — flaming duration (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 5520; Sustainability measurement; plant part litter; fuel live; predrying yes; device burning bench; site Kane2021-1; sampling spring. Primary study Kane2021: Kane, J. M., Kreye, J. K., Barajas-Ramirez, R., & Varner, J. M. (2021). Litter trait driven dampening of flammability following deciduous forest community shifts in eastern North America. Forest Ecology and Management, 489, 119100.
- “flaming duration (s): 59.33” · score 59.33 (FLAMITS — flaming duration (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 5521; Sustainability measurement; plant part litter; fuel live; predrying yes; device burning bench; site Kane2021-1; sampling spring. Primary study Kane2021: Kane, J. M., Kreye, J. K., Barajas-Ramirez, R., & Varner, J. M. (2021). Litter trait driven dampening of flammability following deciduous forest community shifts in eastern North America. Forest Ecology and Management, 489, 119100.
- “smouldering duration (s): 306.42” · score 306.42 (FLAMITS — smouldering duration (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 5534; Sustainability measurement; plant part litter; fuel live; predrying yes; device burning bench; site Kane2021-1; sampling spring. Primary study Kane2021: Kane, J. M., Kreye, J. K., Barajas-Ramirez, R., & Varner, J. M. (2021). Litter trait driven dampening of flammability following deciduous forest community shifts in eastern North America. Forest Ecology and Management, 489, 119100.
- “smouldering duration (s): 306.3” · score 306.3 (FLAMITS — smouldering duration (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 5535; Sustainability measurement; plant part litter; fuel live; predrying yes; device burning bench; site Kane2021-1; sampling spring. Primary study Kane2021: Kane, J. M., Kreye, J. K., Barajas-Ramirez, R., & Varner, J. M. (2021). Litter trait driven dampening of flammability following deciduous forest community shifts in eastern North America. Forest Ecology and Management, 489, 119100.
- “smouldering duration (s): 265.5” · score 265.5 (FLAMITS — smouldering duration (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 5536; Sustainability measurement; plant part litter; fuel live; predrying yes; device burning bench; site Kane2021-1; sampling spring. Primary study Kane2021: Kane, J. M., Kreye, J. K., Barajas-Ramirez, R., & Varner, J. M. (2021). Litter trait driven dampening of flammability following deciduous forest community shifts in eastern North America. Forest Ecology and Management, 489, 119100.
- “burnt biomass (%): 87.36” · score 87.36 (FLAMITS — burnt biomass (%))
  
  FLAMITS record 5549; Consumability measurement; plant part litter; fuel live; predrying yes; device burning bench; site Kane2021-1; sampling spring. Primary study Kane2021: Kane, J. M., Kreye, J. K., Barajas-Ramirez, R., & Varner, J. M. (2021). Litter trait driven dampening of flammability following deciduous forest community shifts in eastern North America. Forest Ecology and Management, 489, 119100.
- “burnt biomass (%): 81.72” · score 81.72 (FLAMITS — burnt biomass (%))
  
  FLAMITS record 5550; Consumability measurement; plant part litter; fuel live; predrying yes; device burning bench; site Kane2021-1; sampling spring. Primary study Kane2021: Kane, J. M., Kreye, J. K., Barajas-Ramirez, R., & Varner, J. M. (2021). Litter trait driven dampening of flammability following deciduous forest community shifts in eastern North America. Forest Ecology and Management, 489, 119100.
- “burnt biomass (%): 68.4” · score 68.4 (FLAMITS — burnt biomass (%))
  
  FLAMITS record 5551; Consumability measurement; plant part litter; fuel live; predrying yes; device burning bench; site Kane2021-1; sampling spring. Primary study Kane2021: Kane, J. M., Kreye, J. K., Barajas-Ramirez, R., & Varner, J. M. (2021). Litter trait driven dampening of flammability following deciduous forest community shifts in eastern North America. Forest Ecology and Management, 489, 119100.
- “flame height (cm): 64” · score 64 (FLAMITS — flame height (cm)) · condition: dead material · condition method: Materials and Methods, Laboratory Burning
  
  FLAMITS record 13683; Combustibility measurement; plant part litter; fuel all; predrying yes; device burning bench; site Varner2021-1; sampling ND. Primary study Varner2021: Varner, J. M., Kane, J. M., Kreye, J. K., & Shearman, T. M. (2021). Litter Flammability of 50 Southeastern North American Tree Species: Evidence for Mesophication Gradients Across Multiple Ecosystems. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 4, 727042. Primary-study method: freshly fallen litter was oven-dried at 50–60°C for at least 24 hours to constant mass; each trial used a 15 g dry litter fuelbed, with five to seven trials per species.
- “flaming duration (s): 41” · score 41 (FLAMITS — flaming duration (s)) · condition: dead material · condition method: Materials and Methods, Laboratory Burning
  
  FLAMITS record 13684; Sustainability measurement; plant part litter; fuel all; predrying yes; device burning bench; site Varner2021-1; sampling ND. Primary study Varner2021: Varner, J. M., Kane, J. M., Kreye, J. K., & Shearman, T. M. (2021). Litter Flammability of 50 Southeastern North American Tree Species: Evidence for Mesophication Gradients Across Multiple Ecosystems. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 4, 727042. Primary-study method: freshly fallen litter was oven-dried at 50–60°C for at least 24 hours to constant mass; each trial used a 15 g dry litter fuelbed, with five to seven trials per species.
- “smouldering duration (s): 302.4” · score 302.4 (FLAMITS — smouldering duration (s)) · condition: dead material · condition method: Materials and Methods, Laboratory Burning
  
  FLAMITS record 13685; Sustainability measurement; plant part litter; fuel all; predrying yes; device burning bench; site Varner2021-1; sampling ND. Primary study Varner2021: Varner, J. M., Kane, J. M., Kreye, J. K., & Shearman, T. M. (2021). Litter Flammability of 50 Southeastern North American Tree Species: Evidence for Mesophication Gradients Across Multiple Ecosystems. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 4, 727042. Primary-study method: freshly fallen litter was oven-dried at 50–60°C for at least 24 hours to constant mass; each trial used a 15 g dry litter fuelbed, with five to seven trials per species.
- “burnt biomass (%): 90.1” · score 90.1 (FLAMITS — burnt biomass (%)) · condition: dead material · condition method: Materials and Methods, Laboratory Burning
  
  FLAMITS record 13686; Consumability measurement; plant part litter; fuel all; predrying yes; device burning bench; site Varner2021-1; sampling ND. Primary study Varner2021: Varner, J. M., Kane, J. M., Kreye, J. K., & Shearman, T. M. (2021). Litter Flammability of 50 Southeastern North American Tree Species: Evidence for Mesophication Gradients Across Multiple Ecosystems. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 4, 727042. Primary-study method: freshly fallen litter was oven-dried at 50–60°C for at least 24 hours to constant mass; each trial used a 15 g dry litter fuelbed, with five to seven trials per species.
- “flame intensity (kW/m): 214” · score 214 (FLAMITS — flame intensity (kW/m)) · condition: dead material · condition method: Materials and Methods, Laboratory Burning
  
  FLAMITS record 13687; Combustibility measurement; plant part litter; fuel all; predrying yes; device burning bench; site Varner2021-1; sampling ND. Primary study Varner2021: Varner, J. M., Kane, J. M., Kreye, J. K., & Shearman, T. M. (2021). Litter Flammability of 50 Southeastern North American Tree Species: Evidence for Mesophication Gradients Across Multiple Ecosystems. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 4, 727042. Primary-study method: freshly fallen litter was oven-dried at 50–60°C for at least 24 hours to constant mass; each trial used a 15 g dry litter fuelbed, with five to seven trials per species.
- “flame height (cm): 64” · score 64 (FLAMITS — flame height (cm))
  
  FLAMITS record 18764; Combustibility measurement; plant part litter; fuel live; predrying no; device burning bench; site Kreye2023-1; sampling ND. Primary study Kreye2023: Kreye, J. K., Kane, J. M., & Varner, J. M. (2023). Multivariate roles of litter traits on moisture and flammability of temperate northeastern North American tree species. Fire Ecology, 19, 1-12.
- “time to flaming (s): 41” · score 41 (FLAMITS — time to flaming (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 18765; Ignitability measurement; plant part litter; fuel live; predrying no; device burning bench; site Kreye2023-1; sampling ND. Primary study Kreye2023: Kreye, J. K., Kane, J. M., & Varner, J. M. (2023). Multivariate roles of litter traits on moisture and flammability of temperate northeastern North American tree species. Fire Ecology, 19, 1-12.
- “smouldering duration (s): 302” · score 302 (FLAMITS — smouldering duration (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 18766; Sustainability measurement; plant part litter; fuel live; predrying no; device burning bench; site Kreye2023-1; sampling ND. Primary study Kreye2023: Kreye, J. K., Kane, J. M., & Varner, J. M. (2023). Multivariate roles of litter traits on moisture and flammability of temperate northeastern North American tree species. Fire Ecology, 19, 1-12.
- “burnt biomass (%): 90” · score 90 (FLAMITS — burnt biomass (%))
  
  FLAMITS record 18767; Consumability measurement; plant part litter; fuel live; predrying no; device burning bench; site Kreye2023-1; sampling ND. Primary study Kreye2023: Kreye, J. K., Kane, J. M., & Varner, J. M. (2023). Multivariate roles of litter traits on moisture and flammability of temperate northeastern North American tree species. Fire Ecology, 19, 1-12.

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

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

Quercus prinus (Chestnut oak). FireApproved. https://fireapproved.com/plants/quercus-prinus/. Last verified 2026-08-23.