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Fireweed

Epilobium angustifolium (accepted: Chamaenerion angustifolium) · Onagraceae · all Epilobium records · syn. Epilobium angustifolium

Your local evidence lens

Separate evidence questions, never one approval badge

Set a ZIP to compare this record with state distribution, native range, USDA hardiness, and invasive records.

A genus split is not a placement verdict. Set a ZIP to read the local documented split.

1. Fire evidence and conditions

Fire evidence: Fire-resistant — location does not change the cited classification.
Fire-performance conditions: No test or rating condition is normalized.
Fire ecology context: No section-reviewed fire-ecology context is normalized.
Placement evidence: 5 source placement records; source schemes remain separate.
Evidence regions: British Columbia; Fremont County, Wyoming; Global; Michigan / Great Lakes; Nevada / Great Basin; New Mexico; Oregon (Willamette Valley); northeastern Minnesota; southern Idaho / Intermountain
Maintenance: No sourced horticultural maintenance assertion is normalized; fire-test conditions do not supply maintenance advice.

Typed publication scope: 7 scopes across 7 cited fire sources

Landscaping for Wildfire Defensible Space in Northeastern Minnesota (Firewise) · Official scoped edition
- Northeastern Minnesota (MN footprint); partial normalized coverage · 2017-01-01
  Dovetail applies the UF/IFAS flammability key to northeastern Minnesota natives and publishes placement for 38 exact source owners. FireApproved exposes those rows only as northeastern Minnesota regional context and preserves the 3-to-30-foot versus beyond-30-foot source placement.
Fremont County Firewise Plant List · Official scoped edition
- Fremont County (WY footprint); partial normalized coverage · 2011-02-25
  The source identifies itself as the Fremont County Firewise Plant List. FireApproved publishes its 92 exact source owners as Fremont County regional context. No methodology, current county endorsement, statewide Wyoming scope, or site-specific suitability is inferred.
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.
Wildfire-resistant Landscape Plants for Michigan (Extension Bulletin E2948) · Official scoped edition
- MI; partial normalized coverage · 2007-01-01
  Michigan State University Extension Bulletin E2948 is explicitly a list of wildfire-resistant landscape plants for Michigan and includes a Michigan-native field. FireApproved publishes 221 exact GBIF owners from 226 represented source rows and holds 15 complex or non-exact rows. This dated publication scope is not a current site-suitability determination.
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.
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.
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.

2. Why this plant is relevant here

State distribution: Documented in AK, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, IA, ID, IL, IN, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MT, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OR, PA, RI, SD, TN, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV, WY.
Native range: No current cited or legacy state native range is normalized.
Introduced / established: No introduced or established row is normalized; that does not prove native status.
USDA hardiness: 3 applicable cited hardiness statements overlap but have different boundaries; compare each complete source row.

3. Legal, ecological, and broader status

Legal-list status: Set a location for an exact legal-list result; source silence is not clearance.
Seed-list status: Set a location to compare the separate state noxious-weed seed layer.
Reported invasive here: No ecological invasive report is normalized; that does not prove noninvasiveness.
Broader regional context: Aggregate AK, HI, and L48 evidence is shown only as regional context, never as an exact-state finding.
Federal context: Federal designations remain separate from state legal-list results.

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.

Fireweed (Epilobium angustifolium) — Photo: (c) fontoto, some rights reserved (CC BY) (CC BY), via iNaturalist. Species-typical, not necessarily this cultivar.

Form: perennial
USDA hardiness: Applicable source statements overlap but have different boundaries; compare each source
Grows in: AK, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, IA +30
Rated in: British Columbia; Fremont County, Wyoming; Global; Michigan / Great Lakes +5
Family: Onagraceae
Evidence: 11 cited sources

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.

Landscaping for Wildfire Defensible Space in Northeastern Minnesota (Firewise) · record table-2-row-14 · 2017 · as of 2026-08-26

2–7 explicit range · whole zone precision · source stated

Source taxon: Epilobium angustifolium · exact match.

Source location: Table 2 row 14, Hardiness Zones column.
Wildfire-resistant Landscape Plants for Michigan (Extension Bulletin E2948) · record perennial:Epilobium angustifolium · New, January 2007 · as of 2026-08-26

3–7 explicit range · whole zone precision · source stated

Source taxon: Epilobium angustifolium · exact match.

Source location: Table 1, perennial row.
Fire-resistant Landscape Plants for the Willamette Valley (EM 9103) · EM 9103, February 2015 · as of 2026-08-26

2–9 explicit range · whole zone precision · source stated

Source taxon: Epilobium angustifolium · exact match.

Source location: Fireweed profile (PDF page 52).

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.

Fire Resistance of Plants Master Database: plantable at 40' from home [Idaho minimum planting distance] (mid-scale rating)
Landscaping for Wildfire Defensible Space in Northeastern…: plantable 3-30 ft from a building [Dovetail Partners planting distance] (with its recommendation)
FireSmart BC Plant Program: suitable for HIZ extended zone (30-100 m) [FireSmart BC Home Ignition Zone] (with its recommendation)
Fire-resistant Landscape Plants for the Willamette Valley: Fireweed profile (PDF page 52) [osu-em-9103-profile] (with its recommendation)
FireWise Plant List for New Mexico: PDF page 5, Flowers and Ground Covers, p5-r17 [nm-emnrd-firewise-table-row] (with its recommendation)

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 (7)

Landscaping for Wildfire Defensible Space in Northeastern Minnesota (Firewise) — Dovetail Partners (Ely, MN; supported by The Nature Conservancy / USDA Forest Service PERFACT agreement) · 2017 · original source Primary evidence Keyed curation lineage: ufifas-srs-tree

“Low flammability (UF Circ 1453 key)”
FireSmart BC Plant Program — fire-resistant plant chart — FireSmart BC · original source Corroboration Compilation lineage: firesmart-bc-plant-database

“FireSmart-approved fire-resistant plant”
A Compilation of Good Plant Choices for Nevada's High Fire Hazard Areas (SP-05-16) — University of Nevada Cooperative Extension · SP-05-16 (2005) · original source Corroboration Compilation lineage: unr-tree

“listed by at least two cited sources”

Compilation marks: CSU 6.305, OSU FRN 6.
Wildfire-resistant Landscape Plants for Michigan (Extension Bulletin E2948) — Michigan State University Extension (Hansen, Fernandez) · New, January 2007 · original source Primary evidence Expert-curated

“considered wildfire-resistant and are recommended for Michigan’s climate”

Table 1 row: Epilobium angustifolium (Fireweed).
Fire-resistant Landscape Plants for the Willamette Valley (EM 9103) — Oregon State University Extension Service · EM 9103, February 2015 · original source Primary evidence Expert-curated lineage: pnw590-tree

“fire-resistant plants that thrive in Willamette Valley growing conditions”

The perennials profile lists Epilobium angustifolium as Fireweed. The profile prints USDA Hardiness Zone: 2–9.
Fremont County Firewise Plant List — Fremont County Firewise · web page (server last-modified 2011-02-25) · original source Corroboration Compilation lineage: unknown

“Fremont County Firewise Plant List — Epilobium angustifolium — Fireweed”

Listed in the source's Ground Covers section; the page describes its listed Firewise plants as generally low-growing, low-debris, and relatively moist.
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 Epilobium angustifolium (Fireweed) in Flowers and Ground Covers. Printed elevation cells: 4,000 ft=N, 5,000 ft=?, 6,000 ft=Y, 7,000 ft=Y, 8,000 ft=Y, 9,000+ ft=Y. Water need: H; sun/shade: S/PS; mature height: 3’; approximate bloom: Jul-Aug.

Mid-scale / conditional (1)

Fire Resistance of Plants Master Database — Idaho Firewise (BLM + College of Western Idaho + Idaho Botanical Garden) · original source Primary evidence Field program lineage: idaho-tree

“fire-resistance score 7 of 10” · score 7 (idaho-0-10)

Listed without a rating (3)

FLAMITS: FLAMmability plant traiTS database — Dryad / Global Ecology and Biogeography · Dryad version 9 · original source Corroboration Trait database lineage: meta-aggregator

3 cited rows from this source; its identity, lineage and tier are stated once.
- “calorific value (kcal/kg): 4420” · score 4420 (FLAMITS — calorific value (kcal/kg))
  
  FLAMITS record 12992; Combustibility measurement; plant part leaves; fuel live; predrying no; device calorimeter; site Sylvester1981-1; sampling july to august. Primary study Sylvester1981: Sylvester, T. W., & Wein, R. W. (1981). Fuel characteristics of arctic plant-species and simulated plant community flammability by Rothermels model. Canadian Journal of Botany-Revue Canadienne De Botanique, 59, 898-907.
- “calorific value (kcal/kg): 4360” · score 4360 (FLAMITS — calorific value (kcal/kg))
  
  FLAMITS record 12993; Combustibility measurement; plant part stems; fuel live; predrying no; device calorimeter; site Sylvester1981-1; sampling july to august. Primary study Sylvester1981: Sylvester, T. W., & Wein, R. W. (1981). Fuel characteristics of arctic plant-species and simulated plant community flammability by Rothermels model. Canadian Journal of Botany-Revue Canadienne De Botanique, 59, 898-907.
- “calorific value (kcal/kg): 4450” · score 4450 (FLAMITS — calorific value (kcal/kg))
  
  FLAMITS record 12994; Combustibility measurement; plant part litter; fuel live; predrying no; device calorimeter; site Sylvester1981-1; sampling july to august. Primary study Sylvester1981: Sylvester, T. W., & Wein, R. W. (1981). Fuel characteristics of arctic plant-species and simulated plant community flammability by Rothermels model. Canadian Journal of Botany-Revue Canadienne De Botanique, 59, 898-907.

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

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

Epilobium angustifolium (Fireweed). FireApproved. https://fireapproved.com/plants/epilobium-angustifolium/. Last verified 2026-08-23.