Native plants · Iowa

Native plants of Mahaska County

74 plant species are recorded as native to Iowa in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Mahaska County by USDA PLANTS. 33 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Mahaska County, Iowa

Native species: 74 Typical Iowa county: 44 (median of 99 counties)
Garden-ready natives: 33 Typical Iowa county: 24
Share by type (all 74 native species): Percent of the 74 native species in each growth type

Tree 9% (7)
Shrub 3% (2)
Wildflower (forb) 62% (46)
Grass or grass-like 19% (14)
Vine 1% (1)
Fern 5% (4)

Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (62%), followed by grasses and grass-like plants (19%).

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

Garden-ready natives 33

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

Garden-ready native plants of Mahaska County, Iowa
Plant	Type	Height	Light	Water use	Hardy to
American bellflower Campanulastrum americanum	Wildflower (forb)	6 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 12b
big bluestem Andropogon gerardii	Grass or grass-like	6 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 2b
black oak Quercus velutina	Tree	80 ft	Sun–part shade	Medium	Zone 4a
blackeyed Susan Rudbeckia hirta	Wildflower (forb)	1 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 5a
bur oak Quercus macrocarpa	Tree	100 ft	Sun–part shade	Medium	Zone 3b
Canada goldenrod Solidago canadensis	Wildflower (forb)	3.5 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
chokecherry Prunus virginiana	Tree	25 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
common sneezeweed Helenium autumnale	Wildflower (forb)	4.9 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
composite dropseed Sporobolus compositus	Grass or grass-like	3 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
devil's beggartick Bidens frondosa	Wildflower (forb)	4 ft	Sun–part shade	Medium	Zone 12a
hairy white oldfield aster Symphyotrichum pilosum	Wildflower (forb)	3 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 4a
honeylocust Gleditsia triacanthos	Tree	70 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3b
Jerusalem artichoke Helianthus tuberosus	Wildflower (forb)	9.8 ft	Sun–part shade	Low	Zone 3a
leadplant Amorpha canescens	Shrub	4 ft	Shade-tolerant	Low	Zone 3b
marsh muhly Muhlenbergia racemosa	Grass or grass-like	3 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 3b
nodding beggartick Bidens cernua	Wildflower (forb)	3.2 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 12a
northern maidenhair Adiantum pedatum	Fern	1.3 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 3b
northern red oak Quercus rubra	Tree	81 ft	Sun–part shade	Medium	Zone 3b
pale purple coneflower Echinacea pallida	Wildflower (forb)	1.2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 4a
partridge pea Chamaecrista fasciculata	Wildflower (forb)	2.4 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 7a
Philadelphia fleabane Erigeron philadelphicus	Wildflower (forb)	2.8 ft	Sun–part shade	Medium	Zone 4b
pinnate prairie coneflower Ratibida pinnata	Wildflower (forb)	4 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3b
poverty rush Juncus tenuis	Grass or grass-like	1.5 ft	Sun–part shade	Medium	Zone 3b
prairie blazing star Liatris pycnostachya	Wildflower (forb)	3.5 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 4a
sandbar willow Salix interior	Tree	30 ft	Sun	—	Zone 1a
smooth blue aster Symphyotrichum laeve	Wildflower (forb)	4 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
smooth horsetail Equisetum laevigatum	Fern	5 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
stiff goldenrod Oligoneuron rigidum	Wildflower (forb)	3.6 ft	Sun–part shade	Medium	Zone 3a
sweet woodreed Cinna arundinacea	Grass or grass-like	4.9 ft	Shade-tolerant	Low	Zone 4a
switchgrass Panicum virgatum	Grass or grass-like	5 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
white oak Quercus alba	Tree	100 ft	Sun–part shade	Medium	Zone 3a
white sagebrush Artemisia ludoviciana	Wildflower (forb)	3 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 4a
woodland bluegrass Poa sylvestris	Grass or grass-like	3 ft	Shade-tolerant	High	Zone 4a

Other native species recorded here 41

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.

big devils beggartick Bidens vulgata
bigbract verbena Verbena bracteata
bluntlobe cliff fern Woodsia obtusa
bristly greenbrier Smilax tamnoides
browneyed Susan Rudbeckia triloba
button eryngo Eryngium yuccifolium
Canada lettuce Lactuca canadensis
compassplant Silphium laciniatum
early wildrye Elymus macgregorii
eastern daisy fleabane Erigeron annuus
eastern waterleaf Hydrophyllum virginianum
foxtail barley Hordeum jubatum
hairy woodland brome Bromus pubescens
Heller's rosette grass Dichanthelium oligosanthes
hoary ticktrefoil Desmodium canescens
hoary verbena Verbena stricta
longstyle sweetroot Osmorhiza longistylis
Maximilian sunflower Helianthus maximiliani
New England aster Symphyotrichum novae-angliae
nodding muhly Muhlenbergia bushii
pointedleaf ticktrefoil Desmodium glutinosum
prairie groundsel Packera plattensis
prairie milkweed Asclepias sullivantii
purple milkweed Asclepias purpurascens
rabbit-tobacco Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium
rose mock vervain Glandularia canadensis
roundseed St. Johnswort Hypericum sphaerocarpum
Schweinitz's flatsedge Cyperus schweinitzii
sixweeks fescue Vulpia octoflora
smooth rose Rosa blanda
spotted geranium Geranium maculatum
stiff sunflower Helianthus pauciflorus
stiff tickseed Coreopsis palmata
swamp verbena Verbena hastata
tall thistle Cirsium altissimum
walking fern Asplenium rhizophyllum
white heath aster Symphyotrichum ericoides
white snakeroot Ageratina altissima
white vervain Verbena urticifolia
wholeleaf rosinweed Silphium integrifolium
woman's tobacco Antennaria plantaginifolia

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, Mahaska County and Iowa
Measure	Mahaska County	Typical county	Statewide
Native species	74	44	1,374
Garden-ready natives	33	24	496
Tree	7	—	110
Shrub	2	—	72
Wildflower (forb)	46	—	779
Grass or grass-like	14	—	298
Vine	1	—	55
Fern	4	—	60

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Mahaska County.

Jasper County, IA 22 garden-ready
Keokuk County, IA 3 garden-ready
Marion County, IA 17 garden-ready
Poweshiek County, IA 18 garden-ready
Wapello County, IA 6 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: Mahaska County (county FIPS 19123), Iowa. 74 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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