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Prairie bluebells are rated fire resistant on limited primary evidence.
Colorado State University Extension and the Colorado State Forest Service give prairie bluebells an ignitability score of 10 out of 10. On their 0-to-10 scale, only plants scoring 8, 9, or 10 qualify for defensible-space zones 1 and 2. Prairie bluebells therefore clears that threshold with the highest possible score.
Two compiled lists reach the same practical conclusion. Low growth, little debris, and relative moisture are general traits Fremont County Firewise describes for its Firewise plants; prairie bluebells appears in its Ground Covers section. NFPA Firewise Communities lists narrow-leaved chiming bells among fire-resistive plants suitable for landscaping. Neither compilation offers comparative classes or an adverse category, so their listings do not carry the detail of Colorado State’s numerical score.
Prairie bluebells is a moderate-water perennial in the borage family, native in parts of the western and central United States. The three sources cover Colorado, Fremont County in Wyoming, and the Black Hills of South Dakota. Together they support calling the species fire resistant, while the regional scope leaves its performance elsewhere less firmly established.
Form
perennial
Water need
moderate
Rated in
Black Hills, South Dakota; Colorado / Rocky Mountain Front Range; Fremont County, Wyoming
On this lot
1. Fire evidence and conditions
Fire evidence
Fire-resistant — location does not change the cited classification.
Colorado State University Extension and the Colorado State Forest Service publish Fact Sheet 6.305 for Colorado's WUI and varied ecosystems. FireApproved exposes all 114 exact source owners at Colorado publication scope while retaining score, elevation, water, and Idaho-carrier lineage. Publication scope is not suitability for every Colorado site or zone.
Black Hills (SD footprint); partial normalized coverage
The page explicitly limits itself to the Black Hills, and NFPA Firewise's archived 2006 plant-list index files it under South Dakota. FireApproved publishes 47 exact genus or species owners from 48 printed rows. This is bounded Black Hills context, not statewide South Dakota coverage or a finding that a plant suits a particular site.
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.
2. Why this plant is relevant here
State distribution
Documented in CO, MT, ND, NE, NM, SD, UT, WY.
Native range
Current cited native range in CO, MT, ND, NE, NM, SD, UT, WY.
Introduced / established
USDA hardiness
3. Legal, ecological, and broader status
Legal-list status
Seed-list status
Reported invasive here
Broader regional context
Federal context
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.
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.
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.
Ignition-Resistant Landscape Plants: suitable for defensible-space zones 1-2 (score 8+) [CSU defensible-space zone] (with its recommendation)
Firewise Plant Material for the Black Hills: Flowers & groundcovers [black-hills-plant-form-table] (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.
“Fremont County Firewise Plant List — Mertensia Ianceolata — Narrow-Leaved Chiming Bells”
Listed in the source's Ground Covers section; the page describes its listed Firewise plants as generally low-growing, low-debris, and relatively moist.
The introduction describes all table entries as fire-resistive plants that can be used in landscaping. Printed-name correction used for exact matching: Martensia lanceolata -> Mertensia lanceolata.
