Natives by ZIP

Native plants recorded in your state and county

Native plants · Iowa

Native plants of Humboldt County

37 plant species are recorded as native to Iowa in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Humboldt County by USDA PLANTS. 24 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Humboldt County, Iowa

PLANTS records only 24 garden-ready natives here (under 30). County records are thin in some places; the Iowa list is a useful second check.

Native species
37 Typical Iowa county: 44 (median of 99 counties)
Garden-ready natives
24 Typical Iowa county: 24
Share by type (all 37 native species)
Percent of the 37 native species in each growth type
Wildflower (forb) 8% (3)
Grass or grass-like 86% (32)
Vine 3% (1)
Fern 3% (1)

Grasses and grass-like plants make up the largest share of the native list (86%), followed by wildflowers (8%).

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 5a (2023 map).

The native plant list

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

Garden-ready natives 24

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

Garden-ready native plants of Humboldt County, Iowa
PlantType HeightLight Water useHardy to
big bluestem Andropogon gerardii Grass or grass-like 6 ft Sun Low Zone 2b
bluejoint Calamagrostis canadensis Grass or grass-like 4.9 ft Sun Medium Zone 4a
Canada wildrye Elymus canadensis Grass or grass-like 3 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 3a
composite dropseed Sporobolus compositus Grass or grass-like 3 ft Sun Low Zone 3b
fowl bluegrass Poa palustris Grass or grass-like 4 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 3b
Indiangrass Sorghastrum nutans Grass or grass-like 6 ft Sun Medium Zone 3b
little barley Hordeum pusillum Grass or grass-like 1.2 ft Sun Medium Zone 10b
little bluestem Schizachyrium scoparium Grass or grass-like 3 ft Sun Low Zone 3b
marsh muhly Muhlenbergia racemosa Grass or grass-like 3 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 3b
northern maidenhair Adiantum pedatum Fern 1.3 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 3b
porcupinegrass Hesperostipa spartea Grass or grass-like 4 ft Sun Medium Zone 3b
prairie dropseed Sporobolus heterolepis Grass or grass-like 2.3 ft Sun–part shade Low Zone 3b
reed canarygrass Phalaris arundinacea Grass or grass-like 5 ft Sun High Zone 3b
rice cutgrass Leersia oryzoides Grass or grass-like 4.9 ft Sun High Zone 4a
rough bentgrass Agrostis scabra Grass or grass-like 2.5 ft Sun Medium Zone 3b
sideoats grama Bouteloua curtipendula Grass or grass-like 3 ft Sun Medium Zone 3a
slender wheatgrass Elymus trachycaulus Grass or grass-like 3 ft Sun Medium Zone 3b
slimstem reedgrass Calamagrostis stricta Grass or grass-like 3 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 3a
switchgrass Panicum virgatum Grass or grass-like 5 ft Sun Medium Zone 3a
teal lovegrass Eragrostis hypnoides Grass or grass-like 4 in Sun High Zone 3b
Virginia wildrye Elymus virginicus Grass or grass-like 2.5 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 4b
western wheatgrass Pascopyrum smithii Grass or grass-like 2 ft Sun Medium Zone 3a
whitegrass Leersia virginica Grass or grass-like 3.9 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 3a
wirestem muhly Muhlenbergia frondosa Grass or grass-like 2 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 3b

Other native species recorded here 13

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
  • earlyleaf brome Bromus latiglumis
  • foxtail barley Hordeum jubatum
  • golden zizia Zizia aurea
  • hairy wildrye Elymus villosus
  • hairy woodland brome Bromus pubescens
  • Heller's rosette grass Dichanthelium oligosanthes
  • hemlock waterparsnip Sium suave
  • rough barnyardgrass Echinochloa muricata
  • tufted lovegrass Eragrostis pectinacea
  • western silver aster Symphyotrichum sericeum
  • whitehair rosette grass Dichanthelium villosissimum
  • witchgrass Panicum capillare

Compared with Iowa

The typical county is the median of the 99 Iowa 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, Humboldt County and Iowa
MeasureHumboldt CountyTypical countyStatewide
Native species 37 44 1,374
Garden-ready natives 24 24 496
Tree 0 — 110
Shrub 0 — 72
Wildflower (forb) 3 — 779
Grass or grass-like 32 — 298
Vine 1 — 55
Fern 1 — 60

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Humboldt 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
Humboldt County (county FIPS 19091), Iowa. 37 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

Independent reference site. No government affiliation or endorsement.