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Sims's azalea

Rhododendron simsii · Ericaceae · all Rhododendron records

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Separate evidence questions, never one approval badge

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

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1. Fire evidence and conditions

Fire evidence: Highly flammable — 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: 0 source placement records; source schemes remain separate.
Evidence regions: Global; Northeast China
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: No state distribution is normalized.
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.

Sims's azalea (Rhododendron simsii) — Photo: (c) Greg III Espera, some rights reserved (CC BY) (CC BY), via iNaturalist. Species-typical, not necessarily this cultivar.

Form: shrub
Region: Brazil; China
Rated in: Global; Northeast China
Family: Ericaceae
Evidence: 15 cited sources

Conditions in the fire evidence

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

cured: Ordering and sorting of fire resistance of tree leaves evidence row

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.

Avoids (1)

Ordering and sorting of fire resistance of tree leaves — Scientia Silvae Sinicae (Shan, Hu, Shu, Xu) · 2003 · original source Primary evidence Lab-tested lineage: shan-nefu-tree

“Author-named worst fire resistance” · condition: cured

The authors place 杜鹃 among the ten taxa with the worst fire resistance after factor analysis of six litter-leaf traits.

Source wording: “抗火性最不好”

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.
- “time to flaming (s): 18.8” · score 18.8 (FLAMITS — time to flaming (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 489; Ignitability measurement; plant part leaves; fuel live; predrying no; device epiradiator; site Batista2020-1; sampling ND. Primary study Batista2020: Batista, A.C., Biondi, D., & Martini, A. (2020). Flammability of ornamental species for fire management in wildland-urban interface in Paraná state. Floresta, 51, 192-200.
- “flaming duration (s): 26.94” · score 26.94 (FLAMITS — flaming duration (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 490; Sustainability measurement; plant part leaves; fuel live; predrying no; device epiradiator; site Batista2020-1; sampling ND. Primary study Batista2020: Batista, A.C., Biondi, D., & Martini, A. (2020). Flammability of ornamental species for fire management in wildland-urban interface in Paraná state. Floresta, 51, 192-200.
- “flame height (cm): 8.6” · score 8.6 (FLAMITS — flame height (cm))
  
  FLAMITS record 491; Combustibility measurement; plant part leaves; fuel live; predrying no; device epiradiator; site Batista2020-1; sampling ND. Primary study Batista2020: Batista, A.C., Biondi, D., & Martini, A. (2020). Flammability of ornamental species for fire management in wildland-urban interface in Paraná state. Floresta, 51, 192-200.
- “ignition frequency (%): 49” · score 49 (FLAMITS — ignition frequency (%))
  
  FLAMITS record 517; Ignitability measurement; plant part leaves; fuel live; predrying no; device epiradiator; site Batista2020-1; sampling ND. Primary study Batista2020: Batista, A.C., Biondi, D., & Martini, A. (2020). Flammability of ornamental species for fire management in wildland-urban interface in Paraná state. Floresta, 51, 192-200.
- “flammability value: 2” · score 2 (FLAMITS — flammability value)
  
  FLAMITS record 518; Ignitability measurement; plant part leaves; fuel live; predrying no; device epiradiator; site Batista2020-1; sampling ND. Primary study Batista2020: Batista, A.C., Biondi, D., & Martini, A. (2020). Flammability of ornamental species for fire management in wildland-urban interface in Paraná state. Floresta, 51, 192-200.
- “time to flaming (s): 18.8” · score 18.8 (FLAMITS — time to flaming (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 11928; Ignitability measurement; plant part twigs; fuel live; predrying no; device epiradiator; site Santos2018a-1; sampling ND. Primary study Santos2018a: Santos, J. F. L., Batista, A. C., Tres, A., Tetto, A. F., & Kovalsyki, B. (2018a). Flammability and combustibility of potential species for use as fuel breaks. In: D. X. Viegas, Advances in Forest Fire Research 2018 (pp. 788-793), Portugal, University of Coimbra.
- “flame height (cm): 4.85” · score 4.85 (FLAMITS — flame height (cm))
  
  FLAMITS record 11937; Combustibility measurement; plant part twigs; fuel live; predrying no; device epiradiator; site Santos2018a-1; sampling ND. Primary study Santos2018a: Santos, J. F. L., Batista, A. C., Tres, A., Tetto, A. F., & Kovalsyki, B. (2018a). Flammability and combustibility of potential species for use as fuel breaks. In: D. X. Viegas, Advances in Forest Fire Research 2018 (pp. 788-793), Portugal, University of Coimbra.
- “flammability value: 2” · score 2 (FLAMITS — flammability value)
  
  FLAMITS record 11946; Ignitability measurement; plant part twigs; fuel live; predrying no; device epiradiator; site Santos2018a-1; sampling ND. Primary study Santos2018a: Santos, J. F. L., Batista, A. C., Tres, A., Tetto, A. F., & Kovalsyki, B. (2018a). Flammability and combustibility of potential species for use as fuel breaks. In: D. X. Viegas, Advances in Forest Fire Research 2018 (pp. 788-793), Portugal, University of Coimbra.
- “burning duration (s): 26.9” · score 26.9 (FLAMITS — burning duration (s))
  
  FLAMITS record 11955; Sustainability measurement; plant part twigs; fuel live; predrying no; device epiradiator; site Santos2018a-1; sampling ND. Primary study Santos2018a: Santos, J. F. L., Batista, A. C., Tres, A., Tetto, A. F., & Kovalsyki, B. (2018a). Flammability and combustibility of potential species for use as fuel breaks. In: D. X. Viegas, Advances in Forest Fire Research 2018 (pp. 788-793), Portugal, University of Coimbra.
- “flame height (cm): 24.4” · score 24.4 (FLAMITS — flame height (cm))
  
  FLAMITS record 11964; Combustibility measurement; plant part twigs; fuel live; predrying no; device epiradiator; site Santos2018a-1; sampling ND. Primary study Santos2018a: Santos, J. F. L., Batista, A. C., Tres, A., Tetto, A. F., & Kovalsyki, B. (2018a). Flammability and combustibility of potential species for use as fuel breaks. In: D. X. Viegas, Advances in Forest Fire Research 2018 (pp. 788-793), Portugal, University of Coimbra.
- “rate of burning spread (cm/s): 15.6” · score 15.6 (FLAMITS — rate of burning spread (cm/s))
  
  FLAMITS record 11973; Sustainability measurement; plant part twigs; fuel live; predrying no; device epiradiator; site Santos2018a-1; sampling ND. Primary study Santos2018a: Santos, J. F. L., Batista, A. C., Tres, A., Tetto, A. F., & Kovalsyki, B. (2018a). Flammability and combustibility of potential species for use as fuel breaks. In: D. X. Viegas, Advances in Forest Fire Research 2018 (pp. 788-793), Portugal, University of Coimbra.
- “calorific value (kcal/kg): 4454.5” · score 4454.5 (FLAMITS — calorific value (kcal/kg))
  
  FLAMITS record 11982; Combustibility measurement; plant part twigs; fuel live; predrying no; device epiradiator; site Santos2018a-1; sampling ND. Primary study Santos2018a: Santos, J. F. L., Batista, A. C., Tres, A., Tetto, A. F., & Kovalsyki, B. (2018a). Flammability and combustibility of potential species for use as fuel breaks. In: D. X. Viegas, Advances in Forest Fire Research 2018 (pp. 788-793), Portugal, University of Coimbra.
- “temperature at flaming (°C): 269” · score 269 (FLAMITS — temperature at flaming (°C))
  
  FLAMITS record 12620; Ignitability measurement; plant part leaves; fuel live; predrying no; device ignition temperature tester; site Shan2008-1; sampling ND. Primary study Shan2008: Shan, Y., Liu, N., & Shu, L. (2008). Flammability ranking of foliage species by factor analysis of physical and chemical pyric properties. Fire and Materials: An International Journal, 32, 371-382.
- “calorific value (kcal/kg): 5081.02” · score 5081.02 (FLAMITS — calorific value (kcal/kg))
  
  FLAMITS record 12621; Combustibility measurement; plant part leaves; fuel live; predrying no; device calorimeter; site Shan2008-1; sampling ND. Primary study Shan2008: Shan, Y., Liu, N., & Shu, L. (2008). Flammability ranking of foliage species by factor analysis of physical and chemical pyric properties. Fire and Materials: An International Journal, 32, 371-382.

Fire-resistant shrubs instead

Mastic
Pistacia lentiscus

Cistus salviifolius
Cistus salvaefolius

Creeping Myoporum
Myoporum parvifolium

Kinnikinnick
Arctostaphylos uva-ursi

Kurrajong
Brachychiton populneus

Calicotome spinosa
Calycotoma spinosa

Fire-resistant shrubs listed above

Last verified 2026-08-24. JSON (CC BY 4.0)

Profiles: GBIF ·

Rhododendron simsii (Sims's azalea). FireApproved. https://fireapproved.com/plants/rhododendron-simsii/. Last verified 2026-08-24.