No sourced horticultural maintenance assertion is normalized; fire-test conditions do not supply maintenance advice.
2. Why this plant is relevant here
State distribution
Documented in AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, MI, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, PR, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV, WY.
Native range
No current cited or legacy state native range is normalized.
Introduced / established
49 sourced range or established records; set a location to match them. This is not an invasive warning.
USDA hardiness
Documented minimum 5b; no upper limit is documented.
3. Legal, ecological, and broader status
Legal-list status
4 legal-list records; set a location to match exact scope.
Seed-list status
23 state noxious-weed seed records; set a location to match exact scope.
Reported invasive here
2 ecological invasive reports; set a location to distinguish exact from regional context.
Broader regional context
Aggregate AK, HI, and L48 evidence is shown only as regional context, never as an exact-state finding.
Federal context
Federal designations remain separate from state legal-list results.
Plant-specific legal-list reviews (1)
These source-bound review receipts are separate from ecological invasive reports. A source or plant identity change invalidates a receipt.
WA · Regulated here. Designated regulated in the reviewed Washington State Noxious Weed List (WAC 16-750) as of 2026-08-26. Authority: Washington State Noxious Weed Control Board; scope: state; as of 2026-08-26.Official reference.Normalized source record.
Plant-specific state seed-list reviews (4)
These source-bound receipts answer only the July 2026 state noxious-weed seed-list question. They do not establish non-seed plant legal status, ecological invasion, nursery-sale rules, or unrestricted use.
AR · Seed-list name scope unresolved. An exact source taxon is governed by “Restricted” or an applicable source note, so the qualified row is held instead of publishing an unconditional result. This answers only whether the plant identity appears in the July 2026 state noxious-weed seed sheet. It does not establish non-seed plant legal status, ecological-invasive status, nursery-sale rules, or unrestricted use. Held source row: usda-ams-state-noxious-weed-seed-2026:AR:030. Governing seed section: Restricted; normalized seed-kind scope: state seed list general; applicable note rows usda-ams-state-noxious-weed-seed-2026:AR:045.Official USDA seed requirements.Normalized source record.
MO · Seed-list name scope unresolved. An exact source taxon is governed by “Prohibited” or an applicable source note, so the qualified row is held instead of publishing an unconditional result. This answers only whether the plant identity appears in the July 2026 state noxious-weed seed sheet. It does not establish non-seed plant legal status, ecological-invasive status, nursery-sale rules, or unrestricted use. Held source row: usda-ams-state-noxious-weed-seed-2026:MO:006. Governing seed section: Prohibited; normalized seed-kind scope: state seed list general; applicable note rows usda-ams-state-noxious-weed-seed-2026:MO:040.Official USDA seed requirements.Normalized source record.
OK · Seed-list name scope unresolved. An exact source taxon is governed by “Restricted” or an applicable source note, so the qualified row is held instead of publishing an unconditional result. This answers only whether the plant identity appears in the July 2026 state noxious-weed seed sheet. It does not establish non-seed plant legal status, ecological-invasive status, nursery-sale rules, or unrestricted use. Held source row: usda-ams-state-noxious-weed-seed-2026:OK:033. Governing seed section: Restricted; normalized seed-kind scope: state seed list general.Official USDA seed requirements.Normalized source record.
TX · Seed-list name scope unresolved. An exact source taxon is governed by “Restricted” or an applicable source note, so the qualified row is held instead of publishing an unconditional result. This answers only whether the plant identity appears in the July 2026 state noxious-weed seed sheet. It does not establish non-seed plant legal status, ecological-invasive status, nursery-sale rules, or unrestricted use. Held source row: usda-ams-state-noxious-weed-seed-2026:TX:030. Governing seed section: Restricted; normalized seed-kind scope: state seed list general; applicable note rows usda-ams-state-noxious-weed-seed-2026:TX:054, usda-ams-state-noxious-weed-seed-2026:TX:056.Official USDA seed requirements.Normalized source record.
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.
Photo: no rights reserved (CC0),
via iNaturalist. Species-typical, not necessarily this cultivar.
Form
grass
USDA hardiness
Minimum 5b; upper limit not documented
Mature height
~6 ft
Light
Full sun
Water need
high
Grows in
AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE +41
Rated in
eastern US
Family
Poaceae
Evidence
1 cited source
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.
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.
Source prints 5 · single-value meaning unresolved · whole zone precision · source stated
Source taxon: Sorghum halepense · exact match.
Source location: Cold Hardiness Zone field in the recovered selector record.
Not used for comparison: The recovered selector prints one Cold Hardiness Zone value but does not define it as a minimum threshold or a one-zone range.
Source location: PlantCharacteristics record 25744, 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.
Eastern United States Fire Performance Plant Selector: Landscape Zone 4 — beyond 30 ft; outside the selector's recommendation area [Fire Performance Plant Selector landscape zone] (with its avoid rating)
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.
