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Christmas-cheer is rated fire resistant on limited primary evidence.
The Los Angeles State & County Arboretum placed Sedum rubrotinctum in Category 1, the greatest fire-retardance band on its four-part scale. That category covered succulents with 90 to 95 percent leaf moisture capacity under normal garden conditions at the Arboretum. Christmas-cheer, called Brown Bean by the source, was among 30 recommended low-growing plants. This finding ties the rating to moisture held in the leaves under those conditions rather than making an unconditional promise about every planting.
The Diablo Firesafe Council also lists Christmas-cheer as a groundcover succulent with favorable fire performance in at least three references. Its row cites seven of the guide’s 57 numbered references. That provides broader support, but the guide is a compilation rather than another direct trial, and it cautions that most ranking terms in its underlying references were undefined.
Christmas-cheer is a succulent in the Crassulaceae family. Calling it fire resistant is justified, especially by the Arboretum’s moisture-based finding, but “limited primary evidence” is the right qualification: one field trial supplies the clearest direct basis, while the second source gathers favorable judgments made elsewhere.
Form
succulent
Rated in
California; Southern California
On this lot
1. Fire evidence and conditions
Fire evidence
Fire-resistant — location does not change the cited classification.
The guide presents itself as fire performance ratings for common landscape plants in a fire-prone California setting. FireApproved publishes 104 exact owners as republished California context. It is not an independent rating, a current endorsement, or parcel suitability.
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.
Conditions in the fire evidence
These describe tested or rated plant material. They are not horticultural maintenance instructions.
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-Retardant Plants for Brush Fire Prevention in Hillsi…: Category 1 [la-arboretum-1970-leaf-moisture-fire-retardance] (with its recommendation)
Fire Performance of Common Plants: Table 1 (favorable in 3 or more references) [diablo-guide-to-plants-three-reference-vote] (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.
“CATEGORY 1 — GREATEST FIRE RETARDANCE Succulents (moisture content 90-95%)”
· condition: green
Sedum rubrotinctum (Brown Bean) is one of 30 low-growing plants in the source's recommended Table 1. The category reflects leaf moisture capacity under normal garden conditions at the Arboretum.
Corroboration (1 rows from 1 source)
Fire Performance of Common Plants (Guide to Plants) — Diablo Firesafe Council · live page captured 2026-08-29 · original sourceCorroborationMirrorlineage: ucfpl-berkeley resolves to Defensible Space Landscaping in the Urban/Wildland Interface: A Compilation of Fire Performance Ratings of Residential Landscape Plants
“Table 1: favorable fire performance rating in 3 or more references (refs 7,10,24,38,40,41,53)”
The Diablo Firesafe Council Guide to Plants lists Sedum rubrotinctum (S. guatemalense) (Brown bean, Pork and beans) as groundcover, succulent, in Table 1: plants with a favorable fire performance rating in 3 or more references. The guide cites 7 of its 57 numbered references for this row (7,10,24,38,40,41,53). The guide states the ranking terms in its underlying references were mostly undefined and makes no attempt to rank within the list, and that fire performance is compromised without maintenance.