Carolina rose

Rosa carolina · Rosaceae · all Rosa records · Wikipedia

Fire-resistant. Recommended by 2 independent evidence lineages with no objection on record across 6 cited sources. This status is computed from the cited evidence by the published rule, never hand-assigned. The page keeps its cited source rows visible for readers and separates each evidence channel from the computed result on this record.

▲ Ohio's OSU Bulletin 921 ▲ Michigan's E2948 list ◆ Combustion characteristics of north-eastern USA vegetatio… · fire-tested

Computed class: Fire-resistant (consensus) — derived from the cited evidence by a published rule, never hand-assigned. Each chip above is one independent primary-evidence lineage and its direction. No plant is fireproof; condition and placement govern. Zone 0 is hardscape regardless.

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Is this one for your yard?

Enter your ZIP to see whether this is legal to plant in your state, and whether it survives your winter.

The cone-calorimeter row tested cured foliage and twigs of Rosa carolina at 25 kilowatts per square metre. The authors did not place that result in a named high or low effective-heat group, so the measurement stays distinct from the recommendation rows.

The support for the on-list result includes low-flammability entries, a wildfire-resistant table for Michigan, and a fire-resistant landscaping entry from Maine. Their exact language and placements remain in the evidence table, while the cured test state is called out under performance conditions.

The two applicable hardiness records do not print the same boundary. One gives a 4–9 range; the other derives a minimum of 2b from a recorded temperature. Both remain available in hardiness evidence.

Form: shrub
Mature height: ~5 ft
Water need: low
Rated in: Global; Maine; Michigan / Great Lakes; Ohio / Midwest +2
Uses: specimen, hedge

On this lot

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
Placement evidence: 1 source placement record; source schemes remain separate.
Evidence regions: Global; Maine; Michigan / Great Lakes; Ohio / Midwest; Virginia / Mid-Atlantic; north-eastern and mid-Atlantic United States
Maintenance

Typed publication scope: 5 scopes across 5 cited fire sources

Combustion characteristics of north-eastern USA vegetation tested in the cone calorimeter · Official scoped edition
- Northeastern and mid-Atlantic study sites (ME, MD, MA, NY, VA footprint); partial normalized coverage · 2007-08-20
  The authors collected foliage and twigs across study sites in Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, and Virginia, then conditioned and tested the samples in a cone calorimeter. FireApproved publishes 37 exact source owners only as multi-state laboratory context. The source does not establish that every taxon was sampled in every named state, whole-plant behavior, landscape suitability, or state planting guidance.
Maine fire-resistant plant list · Official scoped edition
- ME; partial normalized coverage · 2013-10-23
  Maine Forest Service presents a partial list for landscaping 30-100 feet from a structure. FireApproved publishes only 39 unique exact current/accepted matches plus Rhus typhina from the source's explicit parenthetical; unresolved, abbreviated, misspelled, absent, and duplicate-owner rows remain held.
Wildfire-resistant Landscape Plants for Michigan (Extension Bulletin E2948) · Official scoped edition
- MI; partial normalized coverage · 2007-01-01
  Michigan State University Extension Bulletin E2948 is explicitly a list of wildfire-resistant landscape plants for Michigan and includes a Michigan-native field. FireApproved publishes 221 exact GBIF owners from 226 represented source rows and holds 15 complex or non-exact rows. This dated publication scope is not a current site-suitability determination.
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, AR, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, VT, WI, WV.
Native range: Current cited native range in AL, AR, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MO, MS, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, VT, WI, WV.
Introduced / established
USDA hardiness: 2 applicable cited hardiness statements overlap but have different boundaries; compare each complete source row.

3. Legal, ecological, and broader status

Legal-list status
Seed-list status
Reported invasive here
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.

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

35

exact source areas

Current introduced

0

exact source areas

Qualified

0

doubtful or extinct source rows

35 native source areas · World Checklist of Vascular Plants, version 16 v16, as of 2026-06-04

Alabama (AL)
Arkansas (AR)
Connecticut (CT)
District of Columbia (DC)
Delaware (DE)
Florida (FL)
Georgia (GA)
Iowa (IA)
Illinois (IL)
Indiana (IN)
Kansas (KS)
Kentucky (KY)
Louisiana (LA)
Massachusetts (MA)
Maryland (MD)
Maine (ME)
Michigan (MI)
Missouri (MO)
Mississippi (MS)
North Carolina (NC)
Nebraska (NE)
New Hampshire (NH)
New Jersey (NJ)
New York (NY)
Ohio (OH)
Oklahoma (OK)
Pennsylvania (PA)
Rhode I. (RI)
South Carolina (SC)
Tennessee (TN)
Texas (TX)
Virginia (VA)
Vermont (VT)
Wisconsin (WI)
West Virginia (WV)

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.

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.

Wildfire-resistant Landscape Plants for Michigan (Extension Bulletin E2948) · record shrub:Rosa carolina · New, January 2007 · as of 2026-08-26

4–9 explicit range · whole zone precision · source stated

Source taxon: Rosa carolina · exact match.

Source location: Table 1, shrub row.
USDA PLANTS Database — Plant Characteristics · record ROCA4 · PLANTS Help Document 2022; characteristics cache retrieved 2026-08-23 · as of 2026-08-26

Minimum 2b · no upper limit documented · half zone precision · derived containing band

Exact source measurement: -43°F; mapped only to its containing half-zone.

Source taxon: Rosa carolina · source identifier match.

Source location: PlantCharacteristics record 90793, Temperature, Minimum (°F).

Conditions in the fire evidence

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

cured: Combustion characteristics of north-eastern USA vegetation tested in the cone calorimeter evidence row

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.

Maine fire-resistant plant list: Shrubs, page 1: Pasture rose - Rosa carolina [Maine Forest Service list section and page] (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)

Combustion characteristics of north-eastern USA vegetation tested in the cone calorimeter — International Journal of Wildland Fire (Dibble, White, Lebow) · 2007 · original source Primary evidence Lab-tested lineage: usfs-fpl-cone-tree

“Measured; not in an author-named high or low effective-heat-of-combustion group” · score 14.98 (AEHOC-MJ-kg) · condition: cured · original source

Conditioned foliage and twigs were tested at 25 kW/m2 in a cone calorimeter.

Listed without a rating (1)

Corroboration (1 rows from 1 source)

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

“calorific value (kcal/kg): 3319.96”

FLAMITS record 2887; Combustibility measurement; plant part leaves; fuel live; predrying yes; device calorimeter; site Dibble2007-1; sampling ND. Primary study Dibble2007: Dibble, A. C., White, R. H., & Lebow, P. K. (2007). Combustion characteristics of north-eastern USA vegetation tested in the cone calorimeter: invasive versus non-invasive plants. International journal of wildland fire, 16, 426-443.

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

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

Rosa carolina (Carolina Rose). FireApproved. https://fireapproved.com/plants/rosa-carolina/. Last verified 2026-08-23.