Native plants · Georgia

Native plants of Quitman County

22 plant species are recorded as native to Georgia in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Quitman County by USDA PLANTS. 13 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Quitman County, Georgia

PLANTS records only 13 garden-ready natives here (under 30). County records are thin in some places; the Georgia list is a useful second check.

Native species: 22 Typical Georgia county: 129 (median of 159 counties)
Garden-ready natives: 13 Typical Georgia county: 58
Share by type (all 22 native species): Percent of the 22 native species in each growth type

Tree 36% (8)
Shrub 18% (4)
Wildflower (forb) 27% (6)
Grass or grass-like 9% (2)
Vine 5% (1)
Fern 5% (1)

Trees make up the largest share of the native list (36%), followed by wildflowers (27%).

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 8b (2023 map).

The native plant list

Garden-ready natives 13

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

Garden-ready native plants of Quitman County, Georgia
Plant	Type	Height	Light	Water use	Hardy to
alternateleaf dogwood Cornus alternifolia	Tree	25 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 2b
black willow Salix nigra	Tree	100 ft	Sun	High	Zone 1b
blackjack oak Quercus marilandica	Tree	25 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 6a
butterfly milkweed Asclepias tuberosa	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 4a
coastal doghobble Leucothoe axillaris	Shrub	6.5 ft	Shade-tolerant	Low	Zone 7b
Gulf Sebastian-bush Ditrysinia fruticosa	Shrub	12 ft	Shade-tolerant	Low	Zone 5b
laurel oak Quercus laurifolia	Tree	70 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 7a
Missouri River willow Salix eriocephala	Tree	52 ft	Shade-tolerant	High	Zone 3b
mountain azalea Rhododendron canescens	Shrub	14 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 6a
northern spiderlily Hymenocallis occidentalis	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 7a
red maple Acer rubrum	Tree	68 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 2b
water oak Quercus nigra	Tree	90 ft	Sun	High	Zone 5a
willow oak Quercus phellos	Tree	100 ft	Sun	High	Zone 5a

Other native species recorded here 9

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.

American hogpeanut Amphicarpaea bracteata
anglestem primrose-willow Ludwigia leptocarpa
beaked panicgrass Panicum anceps
diamond-flowers Stenaria nigricans
downy danthonia Danthonia sericea
eastern bluestar Amsonia tabernaemontana
eastern sweetshrub Calycanthus floridus
sensitive fern Onoclea sensibilis
Virginia snakeroot Aristolochia serpentaria

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, Quitman County and Georgia
Measure	Quitman County	Typical county	Statewide
Native species	22	129	1,750
Garden-ready natives	13	58	608
Tree	8	—	202
Shrub	4	—	91
Wildflower (forb)	6	—	908
Grass or grass-like	2	—	403
Vine	1	—	78
Fern	1	—	68

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Quitman County.

Clay County, GA 58 garden-ready
Randolph County, GA 46 garden-ready
Stewart County, GA 21 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: Quitman County (county FIPS 13239), Georgia. 22 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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