Abstract: A combustion experiment with the living branches and leaves from 35 woody plant species in Kunming area was conducted with the equipment designed by the authors. The combustibility parameter, namely, the ratio between the area of smoke temperature net rising curve’s apex per unit mass fuel in flaming stage and the ignition time, was put forward, based on the determinations of lighting time, smoke temperature, and mass losing in flaming stage. The combustibility ordering and sorting of the 35 species were carried out, based on the combustibility parameter and lighting time, and the reliability of combustibility ordering was verified through two ways. The results showed that among the test woody species, 14 species (such as Rhododendron siderophyllum) were hard combustible, 5 species (such as Viburnum cylindricum) were combustible, and 16 species (such as Sabina chinensis) were easily combustible. The mean difference of ignition time was 36.2 seconds between combustible and easily combustible species, and 276.7 seconds between combustible and hard combustible species. In the study area, combustible and easily combustible woody plant species accounted for 60%, and hard combustible species accounted for 40%. Low proportion of hard combustible species could be a reason for the frequent forest fire in Kunming area.

Key words: Urban eco-engineering, Plants species selection, Comprehensive evaluation, Indices system, Classification of evaluation