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Native plants recorded in your state and county

Native plants · Georgia

Native plants of Clayton County

39 plant species are recorded as native to Georgia in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Clayton County by USDA PLANTS. 25 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Clayton County, Georgia

PLANTS records only 25 garden-ready natives here (under 30). County records are thin in some places; the Georgia list is a useful second check.

Native species
39 Typical Georgia county: 129 (median of 159 counties)
Garden-ready natives
25 Typical Georgia county: 58
Share by type (all 39 native species)
Percent of the 39 native species in each growth type
Tree 21% (8)
Shrub 8% (3)
Wildflower (forb) 33% (13)
Grass or grass-like 10% (4)
Vine 10% (4)
Fern 18% (7)

Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (33%), followed by trees (21%).

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 8a to 8b (2023 map).

The native plant list

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

Garden-ready natives 25

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

Garden-ready native plants of Clayton County, Georgia
PlantType HeightLight Water useHardy to
American beautyberry Callicarpa americana Shrub 6 ft Sun–part shade Low Zone 6b
black willow Salix nigra Tree 100 ft Sun High Zone 1b
boxelder Acer negundo Tree 60 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 2b
broadleaf cattail Typha latifolia Wildflower (forb) 5 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 3b
calico aster Symphyotrichum lateriflorum Wildflower (forb) 4 ft Sun Medium Zone 4a
cinnamon fern Osmunda cinnamomea Fern 4.9 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 4a
common buttonbush Cephalanthus occidentalis Tree 15 ft Shade-tolerant High Zone 4a
common selfheal Prunella vulgaris Wildflower (forb) 1.5 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 3b
common sneezeweed Helenium autumnale Wildflower (forb) 4.9 ft Sun Medium Zone 3a
common winterberry Ilex verticillata Tree 10 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 4b
coral greenbrier Smilax walteri Vine 1 ft Shade-tolerant High Zone 6b
devil's beggartick Bidens frondosa Wildflower (forb) 4 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 12a
devil's darning needles Clematis virginiana Vine 15 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 3b
dotted smartweed Polygonum punctatum Wildflower (forb) 3.2 ft Sun Medium Zone 10b
New York fern Thelypteris noveboracensis Fern 1.5 ft Shade-tolerant Low Zone 4b
nimblewill Muhlenbergia schreberi Grass or grass-like 3.2 ft Shade-tolerant Low Zone 4a
possumhaw Viburnum nudum Tree 15 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 4a
swamp rose Rosa palustris Shrub 8.2 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 4a
sweetbay Magnolia virginiana Tree 60 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 9a
tapertip rush Juncus acuminatus Grass or grass-like 3 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 4a
Virginia sweetspire Itea virginica Shrub 10 ft Shade-tolerant High Zone 5a
Virginia water horehound Lycopus virginicus Wildflower (forb) 4 ft Shade-tolerant High Zone 4a
water oak Quercus nigra Tree 90 ft Sun High Zone 5a
willow oak Quercus phellos Tree 100 ft Sun High Zone 5a
woolgrass Scirpus cyperinus Grass or grass-like 4.9 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 4a

Other native species recorded here 14

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.

  • Alabama supplejack Berchemia scandens
  • blue waxweed Cuphea viscosissima
  • camphor pluchea Pluchea camphorata
  • camphorweed Heterotheca subaxillaris
  • cutleaf grapefern Botrychium dissectum
  • ebony spleenwort Asplenium platyneuron
  • feather fingergrass Chloris virgata
  • narrowleaf vervain Verbena simplex
  • netted chainfern Woodwardia areolata
  • sensitive fern Onoclea sensibilis
  • sparselobe grapefern Botrychium biternatum
  • spotted water hemlock Cicuta maculata
  • tall thistle Cirsium altissimum
  • veiny pea Lathyrus venosus

Compared with Georgia

The typical county is the median of the 159 Georgia 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, Clayton County and Georgia
MeasureClayton CountyTypical countyStatewide
Native species 39 129 1,750
Garden-ready natives 25 58 608
Tree 8 — 202
Shrub 3 — 91
Wildflower (forb) 13 — 908
Grass or grass-like 4 — 403
Vine 4 — 78
Fern 7 — 68

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Clayton 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
Clayton County (county FIPS 13063), Georgia. 39 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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