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Plant Selection Key - Results
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Your plant: A Tree
- Has single or multiple woody trunks and grow from 5-30 metres or over at maturity
- Single stem trees typically branch well above the ground, while multiple stemmed trees typically branch close to the ground
- Foliage is concentrated in the canopy allowing other vegetation to grow underneath
- Has highly variable leaf and bark types.
Your plant: A Palm
- Vary widely in height
- Generally have a single woody trunk topped by fronds
- Many species retain dead fronds which can be flammable.
- Australian palm-like plants include tree-ferns, screw-palms, cycads and grass-trees. They can grow several metres tall and also have a 'skirt' of dead fronds or leaves close to the ground. This is an important flammability characteristic as it can act as a ladder fuel.
Your plant: A Shrub
- Are shorter and generally more compact than trees, typically 3-4 metres in height with branching close to the ground
- Have dense, bushy foliage and woody stems
- Because of this structure, shrubs can carry fire from the ground to the tree canopy.
Your plant: A Vine or climber
- Have soft or woody stems and are climbing or scrambling plants. Often grown over fences, pergolas or trellises and can grow over other plants
- Can be deciduous or evergreen and some accumulate large amounts of dead leaves
- Can act as ladder fuel and carry flames up into shrubs, trees or supporting structures
- Examples include grapes, Virginia Creeper, Coral-pea, Running Postman or Happy Wanderer.
NOT FIREWISE
These plants should not be planted in a garden or used when landscaping for bushfire.
- Vines are extremely flammable as they typically add fuel directly to a structure. As such, they act as ladder fuels bridging gaps between surface fuels and canopy fuels
- See Section 3: Rules for vegetation clearance around existing houses - large file pdf 646k or Section 5: Choosing suitable plants - large file pdf 1188k or Landscaping for bushfire (complete version) - doc 179k
Your plant: A Herbaceous plant
- Have soft and fleshy leaves with non-woody stems
- Are low-growing, often less than 50cm tall
- Include most smaller flowering plants grown in gardens. Can look 'shrubby', form clumps or grow as groundcovers
- Moisture content is usually higher than most woody shrubs. Often droop when dry.
- Examples include violets and pansies.
Your plant: A Ground-cover
- Are woody or herbaceous. Woody groundcovers spread without climbing
- Are generally less than 50cm tall.
Your plant: A Grass or grass-like
- Leaves are usually long, fine or strappy
- Vary from a few centimetres to over 2 metres tall. Clump size can be up to 1 m in diameter
- Most grasses grown in gardens are perennial rather than annual Many of these form clumps called tussocks. Examples include Wallaby Grass and Canary Grass
- Perennial tussock grasses accumulate dead material mixed with the living leaves and are quite flammable, although they usually only burn for a short time
- Other grasses grow as a continuous mat such as lawn grasses
- Leaves of grass-like plants are often coarse and thick and may accumulate dead leaves in the living clump. Examples include Mat-rush, New Zealand Flax, Iris and Gladioli.
Number of LESS FIREWISE results: 0 
Characteristics that best describe your plant
Eucalypt
- Can have woolly fibrous bark (stringy bark), deeply corrugated and dense bark (iron bark), 'chippy' or platy bark (box bark) or smooth (gum bark)
- All flower and have leaves that hang vertically
- Their bark can be extremely flammable
- Examples include trees from the genera Eucalyptus, Corymbia (includes Flowering Gums) and Angophora (includes Smooth Barked Apple and Dwarf Apple that are similar in appearance to smooth barked gums).
Conifer or conifer-like
- Develop woody cones and have needle-like or scale-like leaves
- Examples include pines, hemlocks, spruces, junipers, cedars, cypress
- Native Australian examples include Cypress Pine, Cherry Ballart and she-oaks.
Other tree type
- This category contains all trees that are not eucalypts, conifers or conifer-like
- Leaf type can vary widely. For example:
- The small leaves and phyllodes (leaf like structures) of wattles such as Blackwood, Silver Wattle and Austral Mulberry:
- the medium-sized leaves of Lilly-pilly and Southern Sassafras
- the deeply lobed leaves of Silky Oak
- the wider, broad leaves of Kurrajong and non-native species such as maples, oaks and elms.
Stringybark eucalypt with coarse, loose fibrous bark
Stringybark eucalypt with coarse, loose fibrous bark
- Examples include Messmate and Red Stringy Bark.
NOT FIREWISE
These plants should not be planted in a garden or used when landscaping for bushfire.
- Trees with this type of bark are extremely flammable
- This type of bark acts as a ladder carrying fire into the canopy of the tree and produces masses of embers
- See Section 3: Rules for vegetation clearance around existing houses - large file pdf 646k or Section 5: Choosing suitable plants - large file pdf 1188k or Landscaping for bushfire (complete version) - doc 179k
Sheds large ribbons or sheets of bark annually
- Strips or ribbons of bark are caught and held in the tree
- Examples include many smooth or gum barked eucalypts such as Manna Gum and Mountain Grey Gum.
LESS FIREWISE
- Pine needles need to be periodically removed from roofs, other plants and the ground near structures
- Eucalypt bark and foliage should also be routinely removed from the tree and the ground.
Does not have stringybark or ribbons of bark
- Examples include ironbark, some gum-bark species, box bark and peppermint-bark eucalypts.
Has low branches
- Branches are less than 2 metres above the ground.
LESS FIREWISE
- Trees must be under-pruned up to 2 metres if possible and dead branches and fronds removed to ensure a more firewise characteristic.
Has good seperation
- At least 2 metres between ground and branches.
Sheds large amounts of leaves or needles
- The conifer sheds large amounts of leaves or needles. For example, Monterey Pine.
LESS FIREWISE
- Pine needles need to be periodically removed from roofs, other plants and the ground near structures
- Eucalypt bark and foliage should also be routinely removed from the tree and the ground.
Does not shed large amounts of leaves or needles
- The conifer or conifer-like tree does not shed large quantities of leaves or needles. Examples may include native Cypress Pine, she-oak and Cherry Ballart.
Has low branches
- Branches or fronds are less than 2 metres above the ground.
LESS FIREWISE
- Trees must be under-pruned to a height of 2 metres if possible and dead branches and fronds removed to ensure firewise characteristic.
Has good sepearation
- At least 2 metres between ground and branches or fronds.
Has papery or loose bark
- Trunk has papery bark or loose fibrous bark. For example tea-trees and most paperbarks.
LESS FIREWISE
- Papery bark and fibres may act as ladder fuels
- Requires appropriate placement in your garden.
Does not have papery or loose bark
- Trunk does not have papery bark or loose fibrous bark.
With fine texture leaves
- Texture is used to describe the overall appearance of the plant from a distance
- From a distance of about 3 metres it is not easy to distinguish individual leaves or branches on plants with a fine texture
- Examples include diosma and some paperbarks with thin, narrow leaves. The fineness of foliage (the surface area to volume ratio) is a very important determinant of flammability.
LESS FIREWISE
- Plants with a fine texture have a higher surface area to volume ratio and tend to dry out more readily than medium and coarse textured plants. This makes them generally makes them generally more flammable
- Require appropriate placement and routine pruning.
With medium texture leaves
- This category includes many azalea and holly species as well as the natives Sarsaparilla and Hairpin Banksia.
With coarse texture leaves
- It is easy to distinguish each individual leaf or branch from a distance of about 3 metres
- Examples include hydrangea, cotoneaster, hazel poma derris and blanket leaf.
Is very dense
- So dense that it is very difficult to place a hand in the plant and touch the main stem. These plants have dense branches
- Examples include shrubby grevilleas and junipers.
LESS FIREWISE
- Dense plants have a larger amount of fuel packed closely together which encourages the spread of flames within the plant
- Require appropriate placement and routine pruning.
Is moderately dense
- Sufficiently dense to not be able to see through the plant but reasonably easy to place a hand into the plant and touch the main stem
- Examples include some lavenders, rosemary and some correas.
Is sparsely dense
- May have open branching patterns making it easy to see through the plant
- Examples include many wattles, rhododendrons and some hydrangeas.
Is taller than 30cm
Yes
- Grass is greater than 30 cm tall.(for example grass in the Family Poaceae or Gramineae).
NOT FIREWISE
These plants should not be planted in a garden or used when landscaping for bushfire.
- Regardless of how many LESS FIREWISE results you may get, tall grasses, herbaceous plants and groundcovers greater than 30 cm tall are extremely flammable because they readily dry out and rapidly carry fire
- See Section 3: Rules for vegetation clearance around existing houses - large file pdf 646k or Section 5: Choosing suitable plants - large file pdf 1188k or Landscaping for bushfire (complete version) - doc 179k
Is not taller than 30cm
- Short grasses all other herbaceous plants or grass-like plants.
Retains dead leaves or twigs
Yes
- Plant retains dead leaves or twigs mixed with the living leaves
- Retention of dead leaves or twigs increases the flammability of a plant. Fine fuels readily dry out and increase the fuel available within the plant for fire.
NOT FIREWISE
These plants should not be planted in a garden or used when landscaping for bushfire.
- Regardless of how many LESS FIREWISE results you receive for this plant, plants that retain dead foliage throughout the year are extremely flammable
- Dead foliage has very low leaf moisture content and is therefore highly susceptible to ignition
- See Section 3: Rules for vegetation clearance around existing houses - large file pdf 646k or Section 5: Choosing suitable plants - large file pdf 1188k or Landscaping for bushfire (complete version) - doc 179k
Does not retain dead leaves or twigs
- Plant does not usually retain dead leaves or twigs, except twhen shedding leaves.
Has waxy or oily leaves
- Leaves have a waxy coating, or numerous oil glands dotted on the leaves
- The leaves of plants containing significant amounts of oils and waxes will often have a strong scent when crushed. The presence of these chemicals often contributes to plant flammability.
- Plants with waxy leaves are often grey, silver or whitish and the waxy 'bloom' can be scraped off the leaf with your fingernail. For example, Wax Myrtle and gallberry
- Leaves do not have a waxy coating or numerous oil glands.
LESS FIREWISE
- Plants with large amounts of oils and waxes are more flammable than those without these chemicals
- Require appropriate placement and routine pruning.
Does not have waxy or oily leaves
- Leaves do not have a waxy coating or numerous oil glands.
The species is seriously susceptible to disease, insects or pests
- Species is known to be seriously susceptible to disease or insect pests.
- Plants seriously susceptible to disease are likely to become stressed and have less vigorous growth.
- When this happens, there is a lower foliage moisture content and a greater number of dead leaves are retained. This in turn makes the plant more flammable. For example, elm trees.
LESS FIREWISE
- Routine monitoring and appropriate treatment for the disease or pest is recommended.
The species is not seriously susceptible to disease, insects or pests
- Species is not known to be particularly susceptible to disease or insect pests.
Is deciduous
- Plants drop all leaves once a year and the new leaves usually have higher moisture content than evergreen plants.
Is evergreen
- Plants retain leaves for several years.
Leaves are soft, thick or fleshy
- Plant leaves are soft, thick, succulent, or fleshy
- These types of leaves often have a higher moisture content than hard, thin and needle-like leaves, making them less flammable
- Moisture can often be seen on the exposed edge of torn leaves. Examples include cactus, agave, some myoporums such as Creeping Myoporum, Many Lilies, some saltbush species and geraniums
Leaves are not soft, thick or fleshy
- Plant leaves are not obviously succulent; they may have various shapes and thickness.
LESS FIREWISE
- Require appropriate placement and routine pruning.
We value your feedback
Remember
- There are no "fireproof" plants and all plants will burn in extreme fire-weather conditions
- The moisture content of leaves is a major factor to how easily a plant is going to burn
- The location and arrangment of plants has a significant effect on reducing bushfire risk within your garden
- During summer as soil dries out, the moisture content of plants will decrease and thier flammability will increase.
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Acknowlegements
This Plant Selection Key is based on Behm AL, Long AJ, Monroe MC, Randall CK, Zipperer WC, Hermansen_Baez LA (2004) Fire in the Wildland-Urban Interface: Preparing a Firewise Plant List for WUI Residents. Circular 1453, School of Forest Resources and Conservation, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida.
Address: Southern Center for Wildland-Urban Interface Research and Information, 408 W. University Ave., Suite 306, USDA Forest Service, Gainesville, FL 32601. email (ahermansen@fs.fed.us) or fax (352-376-4536).
Disclaimer
The Plant Selection Key has been customised to better suit Australian conditions and is intended to provide an indication of plant flammability. The flammability of plants is highly variable and in periods of drought or in the path of an oncoming bushfire, plants will dry out and become highly flammable. If there is uncertainty about the results this key produces, seek professional advice from a plant specialist.
DEFENDABLE SPACE
Defendable space is an area of land around a building where vegetation is modified and managed to reduce the effects of flame contact and radiant heat associated with bushfire. It breaks up continuity and reduces the amount of fuel available to a bushfire.
It is one of the most important aspects of preparing properties for bushfire. This is because defendable space separates the bushfire hazard and the house. The greater the separation from the bushfire hazard, the lower the risk.
Defendable space can prevent direct flame contact and minimise the effects of radiant heat on the house. This reduces the risk of house loss during a bushfire, regardless of active defence.
Defendable space:
- comprises an inner and outer zone with different vegetation management requirements
- needs careful garden design that considers the location of all flammable objects
- requires regular maintenance that should be included as part of every Bushfire Survival Plan.
Requirements for defendable space will vary depending on the type of development and the level of bushfire risk to a property. Section 4 of the Landscaping for bushfire - large file pdf 3086k | Landscaping for bushfire (complete version) - doc 179k provides further detail about defendable space requirements.
