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Small burnet is rated fire resistant, but the evidence supports a qualified yes rather than an unconditional planting recommendation.
Idaho Firewise gives small burnet 7 out of 10 for fire resistance. CSU’s published thresholds classify that result as mixed, with recommendation reserved for scores of 8 to 10.
Its other support comes from greenstrip use in the Great Basin. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service lists small burnet as a common plant option for greenstrips, recording moderate seedling vigor and longevity for sites receiving 15 to 25 inches of precipitation. University of Nevada Cooperative Extension also names small burnet among common perennial greenstrip plants, while saying greenstrips should be grazed or mown frequently. Small burnet also appears in the Society for Range Management’s table of greenstrip species, without a separate burn result for the plant.
These findings make small burnet a plausible fire-resistant perennial, especially in a managed greenstrip suited to the stated conditions. They do not show that the plant itself will stop fire or remain low-fuel without maintenance. At about 1.3 feet tall and requiring moderate water, it has a modest profile, but the fire conclusion still rests on one resistance score and several context-specific greenstrip recommendations.
Form
perennial
Mature height
~1.3 ft
Water need
moderate
Rated in
Great Basin; Great Basin / Intermountain West; Northern Nevada / Great Basin; southern Idaho / Intermountain
On this lot
1. Fire evidence and conditions
Fire evidence
Fire-resistant — location does not change the cited classification.
Southern Idaho (ID footprint); partial normalized coverage · 2013-11-08
The official database labels itself "For Southern Idaho" and describes Idaho residents at the urban-rangeland interface. FireApproved publishes 419 existing plant owners that cite its scored rows. This bounded Southern Idaho scope is regional context, not statewide coverage or a conclusion that the score transfers unchanged to every Idaho site.
2. Why this plant is relevant here
State distribution
Documented in AL, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, ID, IL, IN, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, MT, NC, NE, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OR, PA, RI, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV, WY.
Native range
Introduced / established
1 sourced range or established record. This is not an invasive warning.
USDA hardiness
Documented minimum 3b; no upper limit is documented.
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.
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.
Minimum 3b · no upper limit documented · half zone precision · derived containing band
Exact source measurement: -33°F; mapped only to its containing half-zone.
Source taxon: Sanguisorba minor · source identifier match.
Source location: PlantCharacteristics record 91702, Temperature, Minimum (°F).
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.
Fire Resistance of Plants Master Database: plantable at 40' from home [Idaho minimum planting distance] (mid-scale rating)
Fuel Breaks to Reduce Large Wildfire Impacts in Sagebrush…: common plant material option for a managed greenstrip in sagebrush ecosystems [nrcs-tn66-greenstrip] (with its recommendation)
Greenstrips: Another Tool to Manage Wildfire: common perennial plant used in a maintained northern Nevada greenstrip [unr-fs-97-36-greenstrip] (with its recommendation)
Forage Kochia Helps Fight Range Fires: species used in a semiarid western rangeland greenstrip [harrison-2002-greenstrip] (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.
“Common perennial plants used in greenstrips and selected characteristics important to their establishment and use”
Table 1 row: Small burnett (Sanguisorba minor). Minimum yearly precipitation: 12-14 inches; salt or alkali tolerance: Moderate; status: I; growth form, flower color, or season: Pink/S; varieties: ‘Delar’. The fact sheet says greenstrips should be grazed or mown frequently enough to reduce fuel buildup; otherwise their effectiveness is reduced dramatically.
Table 1 row: small burnet — Sanguisorba minor Scop.. The article says these are species frequently used in greenstrips; it does not report a separate burn result for this row.
