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United States / Grow / eastern purple coneflower

eastern purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
Photo: no rights reserved (CC0), via iNaturalist. Species-typical, not necessarily this cultivar.

eastern purple coneflower

Echinacea purpurea · Asteraceae · all Echinacea records · also called Purple coneflower · syn. Echinacea pupurea · Wikipedia

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Eastern purple coneflower is rated fire resistant, with favorable regional planting guidance and a low Texas hazard rating.

The Texas assessment comes from the Sun City Firewise Group, which rates Echinacea purpurea low for the tendency to sustain high-temperature burning. A Maryland, New Jersey, and West Virginia forestry guide also describes it as relatively fire resistant, specifically referring to stronger resistance to wildfire ignition. That guide notes a preference for full sun with tolerance of partial shade.

Oregon State's extension profile recommends coneflower for fire-resistant planting in Willamette Valley conditions. Its later educational gallery points to the joint Pacific Northwest guide for fuller details. New Mexico's Forestry Division supplies affirmative elevation cells throughout its printed 4,000-to-9,000-plus-foot table and specifies moderate water needs.

These sources offer compatible guidance for this perennial, with different practical details. The New Mexico elevation and water information and Oregon's growing-region scope remain attached to their recommendations. Taken with the low hazard assessment, they support a favorable classification on limited primary evidence.

Form
perennial
Mature height
~1.2 ft
Water need
moderate
Rated in
Georgetown, Texas; Maryland, New Jersey, and West Virginia; NC; New Mexico +7
On this lot

1. Fire evidence and conditions

Fire evidence
Fire-resistant — location does not change the cited classification.
Placement evidence
7 source placement records; source schemes remain separate.
Evidence regions
Georgetown, Texas; Maryland, New Jersey, and West Virginia; NC; New Mexico; North Carolina; North Carolina / southeastern US; OR/WA/ID; Ohio / Midwest; Oregon (Willamette Valley); Pacific Northwest (Oregon / Washington / Idaho); southern Idaho / Intermountain
Typed publication scope: 10 scopes across 8 cited fire sources
  • 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.

  • Firewise Landscaping Plants (Maryland, New Jersey, and West Virginia editions) · Official scoped edition
    • MD; partial normalized coverage · 2015-01-08

      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.

  • Fire-Resistant Landscaping in North Carolina (AG-874) · Official scoped edition
    • NC; complete normalized coverage · 2025-03-26

      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.

  • FireWise Plant List for New Mexico · Official scoped edition
    • NM; partial normalized coverage · 2003-10-08

      New Mexico Forestry Division publishes this as its FireWise Plant List for New Mexico. FireApproved accounts for all 140 printed rows and publishes 95 exact same-rank owners already represented in the directory; 29 exact taxa without an existing record, 14 unresolved spellings or higher-rank matches, one compound taxon cell, and one species row whose only apparent owner has an infraspecific printed identity remain held. Every published row retains the source's Y, N, ?, or blank elevation cells. Publication scope does not erase those elevation limits or establish suitability for every New Mexico site.

  • 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.

  • Fire-resistant Landscape Plants for the Willamette Valley (EM 9103) · Official scoped edition
    • Willamette Valley (OR footprint); partial normalized coverage · 2015-02-01

      OSU Extension says EM 9103 highlights fire-resistant plants that thrive under Willamette Valley growing conditions. FireApproved publishes 172 exact owners only as valley context. The guide shares the PNW 590 lineage and is not a second independent vote or statewide site clearance.

  • Fire-Resistant Plants for Home Landscapes (PNW 590) · Official scoped edition
    • ID, OR, WA; partial normalized coverage · 2023-10-01

      The October 2023 joint Pacific Northwest Extension publication explicitly names Oregon, Washington, and Idaho and publishes more than 150 plant profiles. FireApproved has normalized 155 exact plant records from the source; publication scope does not assert that every listed plant suits every site within the three states.

  • Firewise Plant Guide · Official scoped edition
    • Sun City Texas, Georgetown (TX footprint); partial normalized coverage · 2015-01-14

      The guide is authored for the Sun City Texas community in Georgetown. FireApproved publishes 142 exact owners only as community-level context. It is an archived HOA exhibit with unknown rating lineage, not a current statewide Texas source or an independent Tier 1 determination.

2. Why this plant is relevant here

State distribution
Documented in AL, AR, CO, CT, FL, GA, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MD, MI, MO, MS, NC, NJ, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA, WA, WI, WV.
Native range
Current cited native range in AL, AR, CO, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MI, MO, MS, NC, NY, OH, OK, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA, WI.
Introduced / established
2 sourced range or established records. This is not an invasive warning.
USDA hardiness
3 applicable cited hardiness statements overlap but have different boundaries; compare each complete source row.

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

24

exact source areas

Current introduced

2

exact source areas

Qualified

0

doubtful or extinct source rows

24 native source areas · World Checklist of Vascular Plants, version 16 v16, as of 2026-06-04
  • Alabama (AL)
  • Arkansas (AR)
  • Colorado (CO)
  • Florida (FL)
  • Georgia (GA)
  • Iowa (IA)
  • Illinois (IL)
  • Indiana (IN)
  • Kansas (KS)
  • Kentucky (KY)
  • Louisiana (LA)
  • Michigan (MI)
  • Missouri (MO)
  • Mississippi (MS)
  • North Carolina (NC)
  • New York (NY)
  • Ohio (OH)
  • Oklahoma (OK)
  • Pennsylvania (PA)
  • South Carolina (SC)
  • Tennessee (TN)
  • Texas (TX)
  • Virginia (VA)
  • Wisconsin (WI)
2 introduced source areas · World Checklist of Vascular Plants, version 16 v16, as of 2026-06-04
  • Delaware (DE)
  • Maryland (MD)

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 (6)

Corroboration (3 rows from 3 sources)

  • Firewise Plant Guide — Sun City Texas Firewise Group · updated January 14, 2015 · original source Corroboration HOA exhibit lineage: unknown

    “low”

    The table rates Purple Coneflower — Echinacea purpurea low for flammability hazard, defined as the ease a plant can burn at high temperatures for a prolonged time.

  • Firewise Landscaping Plants (Maryland, New Jersey, and West Virginia editions) — Maryland DNR, New Jersey DEP, and West Virginia Division of Forestry · 2015 archived PDF · original source Corroboration Compilation lineage: md-nj-wv-template-family

    “relatively resistant to fire”

    Listed as Echinacea purpurea (Purple Coneflower). The source says listed species exhibit stronger resistance to ignition by wildfires. Source comments: Prefers full sun; tolerates partial shade

  • FireWise Plant List for New Mexico — New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, Forestry Division · 2003 Forestry Division PDF · original source Corroboration Compilation lineage: csu-nmsu-firewise

    “FireWise Plant List for New Mexico”

    Listed as Echinacea purpurea (Purple coneflower) in Flowers and Ground Covers. Printed elevation cells: 4,000 ft=Y, 5,000 ft=Y, 6,000 ft=Y, 7,000 ft=Y, 8,000 ft=Y, 9,000+ ft=Y. Water need: M; sun/shade: S; mature height: 2-3’; approximate bloom: Jul-Aug.

Mid-scale / conditional (5)

Corroboration (1 rows from 1 source)
Same genus in the directory · the Echinacea group page

Guides that discuss this plant

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

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

Echinacea purpurea (Purple coneflower). FireApproved. https://fireapproved.com/plants/echinacea-purpurea/. Last verified 2026-08-23.