Pirna pineapple cactus (Coryphantha scheeri Kuntze var. robustispina Schott) (PPC) is listed as endangered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. This unique taxon occurs in two valleys south of Tucson, Arizona and the northern edge of Sonora, Mexico. For conservation and management purposes we described community structure, fire history and PPC health at 5 different sites during fall 1993. Cover of 18 species groups was sampled using 50 m2 quadrats at 41 PPC locations. Fire history since 1985 and PPC health was recorded at each location. Principal component analysis ordination were used to describe vegetation patterns associated with different sites. 2 additional studies were conducted to detect differences in survivor-ship and apical resprouting between 2 fires in varied plant communities in 1994. Results indicate plant community structure and PPC health varied with fire frequency and fire return intervals. The burn site characterized by the non-native Lehmanns lovegrass (Eragrostis lehmanniana) showed lower PPC survivorship and apical resprouting compared to a site where the grass was rare. These baseline data serve to establish testable hypotheses which will be used to determine mechanistic relationships between Lehmanns lovegrass, fire and PPC survivorship. We hypothesize fire-induced mortality of PPC is greatest in continuous stands of Lehmanns lovegrass.