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Mapleleaf viburnum is fire resistant, supported by six findings from extension and forestry institutions.
NC State University, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Ohio State University Extension, and Virginia Cooperative Extension all rate the shrub low in flammability. Their systems are not identical: the 2005 North Carolina assessment uses four bands, Ohio State uses five, and Virginia uses three. In each system, the plant’s low rating falls within a recommended band. NC State’s 2025 assessment also rates it low, while the Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox supplies a matching low-flammability tag. The Toolbox does not identify who assigned its values, so that tag is useful as corroboration rather than the main basis for the conclusion.
The forestry agencies of Maryland, New Jersey, and West Virginia describe mapleleaf viburnum as relatively resistant to fire. Their compilation says its listed plants show stronger resistance to wildfire ignition, although it gives neither a comparative scale nor a method for individual plants. That finding still points in the same direction as the graded extension assessments.
Mapleleaf viburnum is a shrub in the Viburnaceae family, reaching about six feet at maturity and requiring moderate water. It is hardy to USDA zone 6a. For a homeowner choosing among landscape plants, the consistent low-flammability ratings make it a supported fire-resistant choice.
Form
shrub
Mature height
~6 ft
Water need
moderate
Rated in
Arkansas; Global; Maine; Maryland, New Jersey, and West Virginia +7
On this lot
1. Fire evidence and conditions
Fire evidence
Fire-resistant — location does not change the cited classification.
Arkansas; Global; Maine; Maryland, New Jersey, and West Virginia; NC; North Carolina; North Carolina / southeastern US; Ohio / Midwest; Virginia / Mid-Atlantic; eastern US; north-eastern and mid-Atlantic United States
Maintenance
Typed publication scope: 8 scopes across 6 cited fire sources
Northeastern and mid-Atlantic study sites (ME, MD, MA, NY, VA footprint); partial normalized coverage · 2007-08-20
The authors collected foliage and twigs across study sites in Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, and Virginia, then conditioned and tested the samples in a cone calorimeter. FireApproved publishes 37 exact source owners only as multi-state laboratory context. The source does not establish that every taxon was sampled in every named state, whole-plant behavior, landscape suitability, or state planting guidance.
Maryland Forest Service says the list contains plants that can be grown in Maryland and identifies Maryland natives. FireApproved publishes 169 exact source owners from the 180 printed rows; an unrepresentable form and duplicate-owner rows are not broadened. The list calls itself non-comprehensive and does not establish suitability for every Maryland site.
NJ; partial normalized coverage
New Jersey DEP publishes a state edition saying the listed plants can be grown in New Jersey and are relatively resistant to fire. Its same 180 printed taxon occurrences map to the 169 conservative owners already normalized for the template family. The list is non-comprehensive and does not establish suitability for every New Jersey site or override the Pinelands Commission's separate placement and fuel-break rules.
WV; partial normalized coverage · 2026-08-26
West Virginia Division of Forestry publishes a state edition saying the listed plants can be grown in West Virginia and are relatively resistant to fire. Its same 180 printed taxon occurrences map to the 169 conservative owners already normalized for the template family. The list is non-comprehensive and provides no comparative or site-specific rating.
Maine Forest Service presents a partial list for landscaping 30-100 feet from a structure. FireApproved publishes only 39 unique exact current/accepted matches plus Rhus typhina from the source's explicit parenthetical; unresolved, abbreviated, misspelled, absent, and duplicate-owner rows remain held.
The complete three-table AG-874 plant list is explicitly for North Carolina and contains 202 low-, medium-, or high-flammability rows. FireApproved accounts for all source rows under its strict taxonomy and lineage rules; source scope does not establish local suitability at a particular North Carolina site.
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.
Virginia Cooperative Extension's publication opens with Virginia wildfire conditions, identifies its Virginia Firewise Landscaping Task Force, and labels plants native to Virginia. FireApproved publishes 306 exact source owners. Publication scope does not establish parcel suitability or current endorsement of this archived 2009 list.
2. Why this plant is relevant here
State distribution
Documented in AL, AR, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MS, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, VT, WI, WV.
Native range
Introduced / established
USDA hardiness
Documented minimum 4a; no upper limit is documented.
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.
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 6 · single-value meaning unresolved · whole zone precision · source stated
Source taxon: Viburnum acerifolia · 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.
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 2 — 5–10 ft from the structure; maintained lawn or fuel breaks, with easily ignited evergreens avoided [Fire Performance Plant Selector landscape zone] (mid-scale rating)
North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: viburnum-acerifolium [nc-toolbox-flammability-facet] (with its recommendation)
FireWise Plants offer colorful choices for Fire Safe Gardens: Scientific name / Common name / Comments table [arkansas-firewise-table] (with its recommendation)
Maine fire-resistant plant list: Shrubs, page 2: Mapleleaf viburnum - Viburnum acerifolium [Maine Forest Service list section and page] (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.
Listed as Viburnum acerifolium (Mapleleaf Viburnum). The source says listed species exhibit stronger resistance to ignition by wildfires. Source comments: Tolerates shade and poor soils
“Viburnum acerifolium — Maple leaf viburnum — Tolerates shade and poor soils.”
The page presents this row in its table of Firewise trees, shrubs, and groundcovers from which homeowners can choose.
Maine fire-resistant plant list — Maine Forest Service, Forest Protection Division · MFS-list-updated-2013-10-23 · original sourceCorroborationCompilationlineage: me-mfs-fire-resistant-plants
“listed as fire-resistant for landscaping 30-100 feet from a structure”
· original source
Maine Forest Service includes Mapleleaf viburnum (Viburnum acerifolium) on its partial fire-resistant plant list for landscaping 30-100 feet from a structure. The printed scientific name is a unique accepted-name match to this record.
FLAMITS record 2895; Combustibility measurement; plant part leaves; fuel live; predrying yes; device calorimeter; site Dibble2007-1; sampling ND. Primary study Dibble2007: Dibble, A. C., White, R. H., & Lebow, P. K. (2007). Combustion characteristics of north-eastern USA vegetation tested in the cone calorimeter: invasive versus non-invasive plants. International journal of wildland fire, 16, 426-443.
