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permaculture - Re: [permaculture] Fire question

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  • From: Richard Archer <permaculture@juggernaut.com.au>
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Fire question
  • Date: Mon, 6 Jul 2009 16:09:36 +1000

At 12:29 PM -0400 5/7/09, lbsaltzman@aol.com wrote:

>Corymbia ficifolia. I have extensively searched the internet for
>any evidence as to whether it is a highly flammable tree.?

You might have more luck searching for Eucalyptus ficifolia
as this species was reclassified fairly recently.

The tree is not fire-safe, however it's not as bad as many other
Eucalypts. In its favour: it doesn't retain huge quantities
of flammable bark or twigs in its canopy and it typically grows
with or can be trained to have a raised canopy.

With a little regular maintenance (removing dead material from
the canopy and raising the canopy to two metres) the tree should
be reasonably fire-safe.

C. ficifolia can be a magnificent specimen tree once mature
and I would be happy to retain such a tree if the landscape
afforded some protection for the tree and the buildings from
a fire. And I do live in a high fire danger area.

However I wouldn't hesitate to remove a C. ficifolia if it was
overhanging my house or if it was in a group of flammable
plants with foliage to ground level and no screening from the
fire danger zone.

...Richard.




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