United States / Grow / spearleaf stonecrop

spearleaf stonecrop (Sedum lanceolatum)
Photo: (c) Peter Abrahamsen, some rights reserved (CC BY) (CC BY), via iNaturalist. Species-typical, not necessarily this cultivar.

spearleaf stonecrop

Sedum lanceolatum · Crassulaceae · all Sedum records · also called Yellow stonecrop · Wikipedia

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Spearleaf stonecrop is rated fire resistant, with a published 10-out-of-10 ignitability score supporting the favorable judgment.

Colorado State University Extension and the Colorado State Forest Service list Sedum lanceolatum as yellow stonecrop. Ten tops their scale. The recommendation for defensible-space Zones 1 and 2 includes scores from eight through ten, so stonecrop falls within it. That combination gives the reader both the species' score and the rule used to interpret it.

The same yellow-stonecrop name appears in Firewise selections for Fremont County and the Black Hills. New Mexico's Forestry Division adds a recommendation at every elevation printed in its table, beginning at 4,000 feet and ending with 9,000-plus. Its profile specifies moderate water needs, sun or partial shade, and a half-foot mature height.

These references consistently favor the perennial while contributing different details. The Colorado score supplies a numerical reason for the fire-resistant classification; the other regional listings add planting context. Primary support remains limited, so the useful claim is the favorable classification within the guidance described.

Form
perennial
Water need
moderate
Rated in
Black Hills, South Dakota; Colorado / Rocky Mountain Front Range; Fremont County, Wyoming; New Mexico
On this lot

1. Fire evidence and conditions

Fire evidence
Fire-resistant — location does not change the cited classification.
Placement evidence
3 source placement records; source schemes remain separate.
Evidence regions
Black Hills, South Dakota; Colorado / Rocky Mountain Front Range; Fremont County, Wyoming; New Mexico
Typed publication scope: 4 scopes across 4 cited fire sources
  • Ignition-Resistant Landscape Plants (Fact Sheet 6.305) · Official scoped edition
    • CO; partial normalized coverage · 2025-07-01

      Colorado State University Extension and the Colorado State Forest Service publish Fact Sheet 6.305 for Colorado's WUI and varied ecosystems. FireApproved exposes all 114 exact source owners at Colorado publication scope while retaining score, elevation, water, and Idaho-carrier lineage. Publication scope is not suitability for every Colorado site or zone.

  • Firewise Plant Material for the Black Hills · Official scoped edition
    • Black Hills (SD footprint); partial normalized coverage

      The page explicitly limits itself to the Black Hills, and NFPA Firewise's archived 2006 plant-list index files it under South Dakota. FireApproved publishes 47 exact genus or species owners from 48 printed rows. This is bounded Black Hills context, not statewide South Dakota coverage or a finding that a plant suits a particular site.

  • Fremont County Firewise Plant List · Official scoped edition
    • Fremont County (WY footprint); partial normalized coverage · 2011-02-25

      The source identifies itself as the Fremont County Firewise Plant List. FireApproved publishes its 92 exact source owners as Fremont County regional context. No methodology, current county endorsement, statewide Wyoming scope, or site-specific suitability is inferred.

  • FireWise Plant List for New Mexico · Official scoped edition
    • NM; partial normalized coverage · 2003-10-08

      New Mexico Forestry Division publishes this as its FireWise Plant List for New Mexico. FireApproved accounts for all 140 printed rows and publishes 95 exact same-rank owners already represented in the directory; 29 exact taxa without an existing record, 14 unresolved spellings or higher-rank matches, one compound taxon cell, and one species row whose only apparent owner has an infraspecific printed identity remain held. Every published row retains the source's Y, N, ?, or blank elevation cells. Publication scope does not erase those elevation limits or establish suitability for every New Mexico site.

2. Why this plant is relevant here

State distribution
Documented in AK, AZ, CA, CO, ID, MT, NE, NM, NV, OR, SD, UT, WA, WY.
Native range
Current cited native range in AK, AZ, CA, CO, ID, MT, NE, NM, NV, OR, SD, UT, WA, WY.

3. Legal, ecological, and broader status

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

14

exact source areas

Current introduced

0

exact source areas

Qualified

0

doubtful or extinct source rows

14 native source areas · World Checklist of Vascular Plants, version 16 v16, as of 2026-06-04
  • Alaska (AK)
  • Arizona (AZ)
  • California (CA)
  • Colorado (CO)
  • Idaho (ID)
  • Montana (MT)
  • Nebraska (NE)
  • New Mexico (NM)
  • Nevada (NV)
  • Oregon (OR)
  • South Dakota (SD)
  • Utah (UT)
  • Washington (WA)
  • Wyoming (WY)

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.

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.

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.

Recommends (4)

Corroboration (3 rows from 3 sources)
  • Fremont County Firewise Plant List — Fremont County Firewise · web page (server last-modified 2011-02-25) · original source Corroboration Compilation lineage: unknown

    “Fremont County Firewise Plant List — Sedum lanceolatum — Yellow Stonecrop”

    Listed in the source's Ground Covers section; the page describes its listed Firewise plants as generally low-growing, low-debris, and relatively moist.

  • Firewise Plant Material for the Black Hills — NFPA Firewise Communities · 2004 scan / 2007 archive · original source Corroboration Compilation lineage: firewise-national

    “Flowers & groundcovers: Yellow stonecrop — Sedum lanceolatum”

    The introduction describes all table entries as fire-resistive plants that can be used in landscaping.

  • FireWise Plant List for New Mexico — New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, Forestry Division · 2003 Forestry Division PDF · original source Corroboration Compilation lineage: csu-nmsu-firewise

    “FireWise Plant List for New Mexico”

    Listed as Sedum lanceolatum (Yellow stonecrop) in Flowers and Ground Covers. Printed elevation cells: 4,000 ft=Y, 5,000 ft=Y, 6,000 ft=Y, 7,000 ft=Y, 8,000 ft=Y, 9,000+ ft=Y. Water need: M; sun/shade: S/PS; mature height: .5’; approximate bloom: Jul-Aug.

Guides that discuss this plant

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

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

Sedum lanceolatum (Yellow stonecrop). FireApproved. https://fireapproved.com/plants/sedum-lanceolatum/. Last verified 2026-08-23.