Wildflower (forb) · Onagraceae
Fireweed
Chamerion angustifolium · includes its varieties and subspecies
Fireweed is recorded as native to 34 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 693 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Fireweed at a glance
- Native in
- 693 counties, across 34 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b PLANTS minimum temperature −38°F
- Mature height
- 5.5 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part shade High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −38°F; zone 3b winters bottom out at −35°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Fireweed is recorded as native to 34 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 693 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 693 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alaska 22 counties
- Arizona 4 counties
- California 28 counties
- Colorado 31 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Idaho 25 counties
- Illinois 7 counties
- Indiana 15 counties
- Maine 16 counties
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Michigan 54 counties
- Minnesota 39 counties
- Montana 34 counties
- Nebraska 1 county
- Nevada 14 counties
- New Hampshire 10 counties
- New Jersey 17 counties
- New Mexico 14 counties
- New York 42 counties
- North Carolina 3 counties
- North Dakota 21 counties
- Ohio 22 counties
- Oregon 32 counties
- Pennsylvania 56 counties
- Rhode Island 2 counties
- South Dakota 4 counties
- Tennessee 2 counties
- Utah 25 counties
- Vermont 9 counties
- Virginia 19 counties
- Washington 29 counties
- Wisconsin 65 counties
- Wyoming 16 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record of a variety (CHANA2). “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 5.5 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Spring, Summer, Fall
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intermediate (sun to part shade)
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- 8 to 55 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 4.8 to 7
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 10 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −38°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 90
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Purple
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Late Summer
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- No Known Source
- Family
- Onagraceae
- PLANTS symbol
- CHAN9
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Chamerion angustifolium (PLANTS symbol CHAN9), including 2 varieties and subspecies folded into the species.
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources