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Native plants recorded in your state and county

Native plants · Colorado

Native plants of Phillips County

83 plant species are recorded as native to Colorado in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Phillips County by USDA PLANTS. 37 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness. 1 more species is listed as both native and introduced and kept in a separate section.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Phillips County, Colorado

Native species
83 Typical Colorado county: 237 (median of 63 counties)
Garden-ready natives
37 Typical Colorado county: 148
Share by type (all 83 native species)
Percent of the 83 native species in each growth type
Tree 4% (3)
Shrub 8% (7)
Wildflower (forb) 58% (48)
Grass or grass-like 28% (23)
Vine 1% (1)
Fern 1% (1)

Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (58%), followed by grasses and grass-like plants (28%).

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 zone 5b (2023 map).

The native plant list

Cold hardiness is estimated from each plant’s PLANTS minimum temperature. How we estimate it.

Garden-ready natives 37

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

Garden-ready native plants of Phillips County, Colorado
PlantType HeightLight Water useHardy to
broadbeard beardtongue Penstemon angustifolius Wildflower (forb) 3 ft Sun Low Zone 4b
buffalograss Bouteloua dactyloides Grass or grass-like 6 in Sun Medium Zone 3b
Canada wildrye Elymus canadensis Grass or grass-like 3 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 3a
chokecherry Prunus virginiana Tree 25 ft Sun Medium Zone 3a
crested pricklypoppy Argemone polyanthemos Wildflower (forb) 3 ft Sun Low Zone 5a
downy paintedcup Castilleja sessiliflora Wildflower (forb) 1.3 ft Sun Low Zone 3b
eastern cottonwood Populus deltoides Tree 190 ft Sun High Zone 3a
golden tickseed Coreopsis tinctoria Wildflower (forb) 3 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 12b
green ash Fraxinus pennsylvanica Tree 80 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 2b
green needlegrass Nassella viridula Grass or grass-like 2 ft Sun Low Zone 3b
hairy false goldenaster Heterotheca villosa Wildflower (forb) 3 ft Sun Low Zone 4a
hairy grama Bouteloua hirsuta Grass or grass-like 6 in Sun Low Zone 3b
little barley Hordeum pusillum Grass or grass-like 1.2 ft Sun Medium Zone 10b
Missouri goldenrod Solidago missouriensis Wildflower (forb) 3 ft Sun–part shade Low Zone 3b
needle and thread Hesperostipa comata Grass or grass-like 3 ft Sun Low Zone 3b
Pennsylvania smartweed Polygonum pensylvanicum Wildflower (forb) 3.9 ft Sun Medium Zone 10b
prairie Junegrass Koeleria macrantha Grass or grass-like 1.5 ft Shade-tolerant High Zone 3b
prairie sagewort Artemisia frigida Shrub 2 ft Sun–part shade Low Zone 3a
prairie sandreed Calamovilfa longifolia Grass or grass-like 4.5 ft Sun Medium Zone 3b
purple locoweed Oxytropis lambertii Wildflower (forb) 1.4 ft Sun Low Zone 3b
purple prairie clover Dalea purpurea Wildflower (forb) 3 ft Sun Medium Zone 3b
purple threeawn Aristida purpurea Grass or grass-like 1.4 ft Sun Low Zone 4a
sand bluestem Andropogon hallii Grass or grass-like 6.1 ft Sun Medium Zone 3b
sand dropseed Sporobolus cryptandrus Grass or grass-like 3 ft Sun Low Zone 3b
sandcherry Prunus pumila Shrub 6 ft Shade-tolerant Low Zone 4a
sanddune wallflower Erysimum capitatum Wildflower (forb) 2.5 ft Sun Medium Zone 4b
sandhill muhly Muhlenbergia pungens Grass or grass-like 1.5 ft Sun Low Zone 5a
showy milkweed Asclepias speciosa Wildflower (forb) 6 ft Sun Medium Zone 4a
skunkbush sumac Rhus trilobata Shrub 4 ft Sun–part shade Low Zone 2a
spreading yellowcress Rorippa sinuata Wildflower (forb) 1 ft Sun Medium Zone 3b
switchgrass Panicum virgatum Grass or grass-like 5 ft Sun Medium Zone 3a
threelobe beggarticks Bidens tripartita Wildflower (forb) 3.5 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 12a
Torrey's rush Juncus torreyi Grass or grass-like 3.1 ft Sun Medium Zone 3b
upright prairie coneflower Ratibida columnifera Wildflower (forb) 3.1 ft Sun Medium Zone 3a
white prairie clover Dalea candida Wildflower (forb) 2 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 3b
white sagebrush Artemisia ludoviciana Wildflower (forb) 3 ft Sun Low Zone 4a
Woods' rose Rosa woodsii Shrub 3 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 3a

Other native species recorded here 46

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.

  • annual buckwheat Eriogonum annuum
  • aridland goosefoot Chenopodium desiccatum
  • bigbract verbena Verbena bracteata
  • bigseed alfalfa dodder Cuscuta indecora
  • blowout grass Redfieldia flexuosa
  • Carolina larkspur Delphinium carolinianum
  • Carolina puccoon Lithospermum caroliniense
  • curlytop knotweed Polygonum lapathifolium
  • false buffalograss Munroa squarrosa
  • fetid marigold Dyssodia papposa
  • fineleaf hymenopappus Hymenopappus filifolius
  • foothill bladderpod Lesquerella ludoviciana
  • Geyer's sandmat Chamaesyce geyeri
  • green comet milkweed Asclepias viridiflora
  • hairy waterclover Marsilea vestita
  • Hopi tea greenthread Thelesperma megapotamicum
  • James' cryptantha Cryptantha cinerea
  • lacy tansyaster Machaeranthera pinnatifida
  • lanceleaf sage Salvia reflexa
  • lemon scurfpea Psoralidium lanceolatum
  • narrowleaf stoneseed Lithospermum incisum
  • painted milkvetch Astragalus ceramicus
  • pale dock Rumex altissimus
  • plains snakecotton Froelichia floridana
  • prairie groundcherry Physalis hispida
  • prairie spiderwort Tradescantia occidentalis
  • prairie sunflower Helianthus petiolaris
  • sand sagebrush Artemisia filifolia
  • sandhill amaranth Amaranthus arenicola
  • scarlet beeblossom Oenothera suffrutescens
  • Schweinitz's flatsedge Cyperus schweinitzii
  • shortbeak sedge Carex brevior
  • silky prairie clover Dalea villosa
  • sixweeks fescue Vulpia octoflora
  • slimflower scurfpea Psoralidium tenuiflorum
  • snowball sand verbena Abronia fragrans
  • spinystar Escobaria vivipara
  • Texas croton Croton texensis
  • thin paspalum Paspalum setaceum
  • tufted lovegrass Eragrostis pectinacea
  • tumblegrass Schedonnardus paniculatus
  • twistspine pricklypear Opuntia macrorhiza
  • wavyleaf thistle Cirsium undulatum
  • wedgeleaf Phyla cuneifolia
  • white prairie aster Symphyotrichum falcatum
  • witchgrass Panicum capillare
Also listed as native and introduced here 1

PLANTS labels these species both native and introduced in this state: some forms are native and others were brought in from elsewhere. Most gardeners should choose plants from the main list.

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, Phillips County and Colorado
MeasurePhillips CountyTypical countyStatewide
Native species 83 237 1,119
Garden-ready natives 37 148 585
Tree 3 — 66
Shrub 7 — 92
Wildflower (forb) 48 — 626
Grass or grass-like 23 — 278
Vine 1 — 20
Fern 1 — 37

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Phillips County.

Look up another ZIP

Matches your ZIP to the county it mostly lies in, then lists the plants recorded as native to your state (Kew’s World Checklist and USDA PLANTS) and recorded in that county by USDA PLANTS.

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
Phillips County (county FIPS 08095), Colorado. 83 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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