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Spiderwort receives low fire ratings in Ohio and Texas, giving it a favorable but limited evidence base.
The Ohio assessment concerns Tradescantia species, the sun-loving perennials that the extension bulletin describes as forming large clumps in moist soils. Its authors assign spiderwort L on their five-band scale. Their experience underlies that judgment; L places the plant toward the low-flammability end of the scale.
Sun City Texas's Firewise Group also gives Tradescantia species a low hazard rating. Here the hazard concerns sustained burning at high temperature. Agreement between that community guide and Ohio's extension bulletin supports the fire-resistant classification, even though the two publications describe their ratings differently.
For a gardener comparing perennials, spiderwort consequently has favorable guidance from both regions. Both publications name Tradescantia species collectively, rather than assigning a separate fire grade to each species.
Form
perennial
Rated in
Georgetown, Texas; Ohio / Midwest
On this lot
1. Fire evidence and conditions
Fire evidence
Fire-resistant — location does not change the cited classification.
Ohio State University Extension Bulletin 921 is an Ohio publication that describes Ohio fire seasons and landscape conditions and labels nativity to Ohio. FireApproved publishes 352 exact source-owning plant records from its eight rated tables. This historical publication scope does not assert current extension endorsement or that a listed plant suits every Ohio site.
Sun City Texas, Georgetown (TX footprint); partial normalized coverage · 2015-01-14
The guide is authored for the Sun City Texas community in Georgetown. FireApproved publishes 142 exact owners only as community-level context. It is an archived HOA exhibit with unknown rating lineage, not a current statewide Texas source or an independent Tier 1 determination.
2. Why this plant is relevant here
State distribution
Documented in OH.
Native range
The legacy compatibility field lists OH in native range; its field-level source was not retained.
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.
Firewise Plant Guide: Perennials [Sun City plant-table sections] (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.
The table rates Spiderwort — Tradescantia species low for flammability hazard, defined as the ease a plant can burn at high temperatures for a prolonged time.
