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United States / Grow / Adam's needle

Adam's needle (Yucca filamentosa)
Photo: no rights reserved (CC0), via iNaturalist. Species-typical, not necessarily this cultivar.

Adam's needle

Yucca filamentosa · Asparagaceae · all Yucca records · also called Yucca · Wikipedia

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Adam's needle is generally rated fire resistant, though Virginia Tech classifies it as highly flammable.

Five of six sources favor it. In the strongest direct test, the USDA Forest Service and NIST placed Adam’s needle in the low-flammability group after whole-plant burns and large-scale heat measurements. Idaho Firewise gave it a fire-resistance score of 8 out of 10, within the range used for recommended plants. Ohio State’s extension service rated it low on its five-band flammability scale for both evergreen shrubs and perennials. FireSmart BC also approves it as fire resistant, while Nevada’s extension compilation found favorable treatment in at least two western source lists.

The disagreement comes from Virginia Cooperative Extension, which assigned Adam’s needle high flammability on its three-point scale. Its list rates every evergreen tree and shrub as highly flammable. That does not cancel the whole-plant burn result, but it does show that an expert-curated landscape list can reach a different judgment from laboratory testing, field trials, and compiled recommendations. The sources use different methods, scales, and regions, and their ratings conflict.

Adam’s needle is a roughly two-foot succulent in the asparagus family, suited to full sun and hardy to USDA zone 5a. On balance, the direct testing and broader agreement support calling it fire resistant, with Virginia’s high rating serving as a reason not to treat that label as meaning fireproof.

Form
succulent
Mature height
~2 ft
Light
Full sun
Rated in
British Columbia; Colorado / Rocky Mountain Front Range; Montana / Northern Rockies; Nevada / Great Basin +6
On this lot

1. Fire evidence and conditions

Fire evidence
Fire-resistant — location does not change the cited classification.
Placement evidence
5 source placement records; source schemes remain separate.
Evidence regions
British Columbia; Colorado / Rocky Mountain Front Range; Montana / Northern Rockies; Nevada / Great Basin; Ohio / Midwest; Utah / Intermountain West; Virginia / Mid-Atlantic; eastern US; southeastern US; southern Idaho / Intermountain
Typed publication scope: 7 scopes across 7 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.

  • Fire Resistance of Plants Master Database · Official scoped edition
    • Southern Idaho (ID footprint); partial normalized coverage · 2013-11-08

      The official database labels itself "For Southern Idaho" and describes Idaho residents at the urban-rangeland interface. FireApproved publishes 419 existing plant owners that cite its scored rows. This bounded Southern Idaho scope is regional context, not statewide coverage or a conclusion that the score transfers unchanged to every Idaho site.

  • Fire-Resistant Plants for Montana Landscapes (MontGuide MT200101AG) · Official scoped edition
    • MT; partial normalized coverage · 2022-04-01

      The April 2022 MontGuide explicitly presents fire-resistant species adapted to Montana. FireApproved publishes 92 exact plant records from the source while retaining excluded genus, family, and unresolved rows; the guide itself says not every listed species grows in every part of the state.

  • Firewise Landscaping (OSU Extension Bulletin 921) · Official scoped edition
    • OH; partial normalized coverage · 2006-03-01

      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.

  • A Compilation of Good Plant Choices for Nevada's High Fire Hazard Areas (SP-05-16) · Official scoped edition
    • NV; partial normalized coverage · 2005-01-01

      University of Nevada Cooperative Extension compiled plants suited to Nevada climate zones and reported favorably by at least two upstream firewise lists. FireApproved publishes 126 exact source owners at Nevada publication scope. The source explicitly makes no independent flammability determination, so these rows remain corroborative.

  • Firewise Plants for Utah Landscapes (NR/FF/002) · Official scoped edition
    • UT; partial normalized coverage · 2005-02-01

      Utah State University Extension states that this fact sheet selects examples for Utah landscapes and that they require proper placement and maintenance. FireApproved publishes 83 exact source owners at Utah publication scope. The table is not a site-specific planting clearance.

  • Virginia Firescapes — Firewise Landscaping for Woodland Homes (430-300) · Official scoped edition
    • VA; partial normalized coverage · 2009-04-15

      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, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, MI, MO, MS, NC, NE, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, WI, WV.
Native range
Current cited native range in AL, FL, GA, LA, MD, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV.
Introduced / established
3 sourced range or established records. This is not an invasive warning.
USDA hardiness
Only uncertain or inapplicable hardiness rows are cited; no primary zone is projected.

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

11

exact source areas

Current introduced

3

exact source areas

Qualified

0

doubtful or extinct source rows

11 native source areas · World Checklist of Vascular Plants, version 16 v16, as of 2026-06-04
  • Alabama (AL)
  • Florida (FL)
  • Georgia (GA)
  • Louisiana (LA)
  • Maryland (MD)
  • Mississippi (MS)
  • North Carolina (NC)
  • South Carolina (SC)
  • Tennessee (TN)
  • Virginia (VA)
  • West Virginia (WV)
3 introduced source areas · World Checklist of Vascular Plants, version 16 v16, as of 2026-06-04
  • Kentucky (KY)
  • Massachusetts (MA)
  • New York (NY)

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.

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 (8)

Corroboration (2 rows from 2 sources)

Avoids (1)

Mid-scale / conditional (1)

Same genus in the directory · the Yucca group page

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

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

Yucca filamentosa (Yucca). FireApproved. https://fireapproved.com/plants/yucca-filamentosa/. Last verified 2026-08-23.