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Common fanflower appears in favorable fire-related plant lists, although those assessments leave its fire resistance uncertain.
Canberra's government selector marks Scaevola aemula “Fire Retardant: Yes.” That supplies a positive selection attribute for the named groundcover. It does not give a numerical ignition score or an experimental burning time.
The older University of California Forest Products Laboratory compilation records five references recommending Scaevola aemula for high-fire-risk areas. The number counts earlier recommendations. The report drew on more than 25 lists and warned that many relied on unclear terms or lacked a scientific basis; its five references should not become five new fire tests.
These two kinds of evidence point favorably toward common fanflower while leaving the main question qualified. They document a recommendation history, but they do not establish how this plant will ignite or burn in a particular landscape or fire.
Form
groundcover
Rated in
Australian Capital Territory, Australia; California
On this lot
1. Fire evidence and conditions
Fire evidence
Mixed evidence — location does not change the cited classification.
The UC Forest Products Laboratory says the guide covers properties of common California landscaping plants and was prepared for California fire agencies. FireApproved publishes 130 exact owners at historical California publication scope. The report is a 1997 compilation, not a current endorsement, site rating, or independent test of every row.
2. Why this plant is relevant here
State distribution
Native range
Introduced / established
USDA hardiness
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.
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.
Defensible Space Landscaping in the Urban/Wildland Interf…: Chapter 4, Landscape Vegetation Database [ucfpl-1997] (with its recommendation)
Canberra Plant Selector: filtered result page 6 [canberra-selector] (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.
