Native plants · Colorado

Native plants of Crowley County

65 plant species are recorded as native to Colorado in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Crowley County by USDA PLANTS. 28 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Crowley County, Colorado

PLANTS records only 28 garden-ready natives here (under 30). County records are thin in some places; the Colorado list is a useful second check.

Native species: 65 Typical Colorado county: 237 (median of 63 counties)
Garden-ready natives: 28 Typical Colorado county: 148
Share by type (all 65 native species): Percent of the 65 native species in each growth type

Shrub 5% (3)
Wildflower (forb) 71% (46)
Grass or grass-like 25% (16)

Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (71%), followed by grasses and grass-like plants (25%).

Recorded native ranges can include long-established populations that spread from gardens; check your state’s native plant society list for local guidance. How native status is decided.

ZIP codes mainly in this county fall in USDA hardiness zones 5b to 6a (2023 map).

The native plant list

Garden-ready natives 28

Native species with PLANTS growing records (height, light, moisture, minimum temperature). “—” means PLANTS has no value.

Garden-ready native plants of Crowley County, Colorado
Plant	Type	Height	Light	Water use	Hardy to
alkali buttercup Ranunculus cymbalaria	Wildflower (forb)	1 ft	Shade-tolerant	High	Zone 3b
alkali sacaton Sporobolus airoides	Grass or grass-like	3 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
American licorice Glycyrrhiza lepidota	Wildflower (forb)	4 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 3b
blue grama Bouteloua gracilis	Grass or grass-like	1 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
Canada goldenrod Solidago canadensis	Wildflower (forb)	3.5 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
Canadian horseweed Conyza canadensis	Wildflower (forb)	5 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 12b
common spikerush Eleocharis palustris	Grass or grass-like	1.3 ft	Sun	High	Zone 3b
common threesquare Schoenoplectus pungens	Grass or grass-like	4.9 ft	Sun	High	Zone 3b
golden crownbeard Verbesina encelioides	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 5a
green prairie coneflower Ratibida tagetes	Wildflower (forb)	1 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 4b
Indian ricegrass Achnatherum hymenoides	Grass or grass-like	2 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3a
Indianhemp Apocynum cannabinum	Wildflower (forb)	3.3 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 3a
James' galleta Pleuraphis jamesii	Grass or grass-like	2 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 5a
Jerusalem artichoke Helianthus tuberosus	Wildflower (forb)	9.8 ft	Sun–part shade	Low	Zone 3a
plains pricklypear Opuntia polyacantha	Shrub	2 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 4b
purple threeawn Aristida purpurea	Grass or grass-like	1.4 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 4a
rubber rabbitbrush Ericameria nauseosa	Shrub	4 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3b
saltgrass Distichlis spicata	Grass or grass-like	1.1 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3b
sand dropseed Sporobolus cryptandrus	Grass or grass-like	3 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
scarlet globemallow Sphaeralcea coccinea	Wildflower (forb)	1.5 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 5a
scratchgrass Muhlenbergia asperifolia	Grass or grass-like	2 ft	Shade-tolerant	High	Zone 5b
showy milkweed Asclepias speciosa	Wildflower (forb)	6 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 4a
spreading yellowcress Rorippa sinuata	Wildflower (forb)	1 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3b
squirreltail Elymus elymoides	Grass or grass-like	1.5 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3a
tanseyleaf tansyaster Machaeranthera tanacetifolia	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 4a
textile onion Allium textile	Wildflower (forb)	1 ft	Sun–part shade	Medium	Zone 3b
vine mesquite Panicum obtusum	Grass or grass-like	2 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 5a
woolly plantain Plantago patagonica	Wildflower (forb)	6 in	Sun	Low	Zone 12b

Other native species recorded here 37

PLANTS has no growing records for these, so light, moisture, height and zone filters cannot include them. Many are wild species seldom sold by nurseries.

bigbract verbena Verbena bracteata
camphorweed Heterotheca subaxillaris
chairmaker's bulrush Schoenoplectus americanus
Cuman ragweed Ambrosia psilostachya
feather fingergrass Chloris virgata
fetid marigold Dyssodia papposa
flatspine bur ragweed Ambrosia acanthicarpa
flatspine stickseed Lappula occidentalis
foxtail barley Hordeum jubatum
great ragweed Ambrosia trifida
heartleaf four o'clock Mirabilis nyctaginea
horned pondweed Zannichellia palustris
lacy tansyaster Machaeranthera pinnatifida
mat sandbur Cenchrus longispinus
pale dock Rumex altissimus
povertyweed Iva axillaris
prairie groundcherry Physalis hispida
prairie sandmat Chamaesyce missurica
prairie sunflower Helianthus petiolaris
ram's horn Proboscidea louisianica
ribseed sandmat Chamaesyce glyptosperma
River Broom-Rape Orobanche riparia
rush skeletonplant Lygodesmia juncea
sand sagebrush Artemisia filifolia
scarlet beeblossom Oenothera suffrutescens
silverscale saltbush Atriplex argentea
slimflower scurfpea Psoralidium tenuiflorum
snowball sand verbena Abronia fragrans
Texas croton Croton texensis
veiny dock Rumex venosus
velvetweed Oenothera curtiflora
verrucose seapurslane Sesuvium verrucosum
wavyleaf thistle Cirsium undulatum
wedgeleaf Phyla cuneifolia
western tansymustard Descurainia pinnata
white prairie aster Symphyotrichum falcatum
whitest evening primrose Oenothera albicaulis

Compared with Colorado

The typical county is the median of the 63 Colorado counties with PLANTS county records; the statewide figure counts every species native anywhere in the state. More species is not better or worse: counties differ in size, habitat and how thoroughly they have been surveyed.

Native species counts, Crowley County and Colorado
Measure	Crowley County	Typical county	Statewide
Native species	65	237	1,119
Garden-ready natives	28	148	585
Tree	0	—	66
Shrub	3	—	92
Wildflower (forb)	46	—	626
Grass or grass-like	16	—	278
Vine	0	—	20
Fern	0	—	37

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Crowley County.

Lincoln County, CO 84 garden-ready
Otero County, CO 103 garden-ready
Pueblo County, CO 124 garden-ready

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.
Zones: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map (2023) ZIP table: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed November 3, 2026. Plant zones on this site are our estimate, not the official map.
Scope: Crowley County (county FIPS 08025), Colorado. 65 native species from PLANTS county distribution records; garden-ready = species with a PLANTS characteristics record.
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

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