Native plants · Iowa

Native plants of Monroe County

9 plant species are recorded as native to Iowa in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Monroe County by USDA PLANTS. 5 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Monroe County, Iowa

PLANTS records only 5 garden-ready natives here (under 30). County records are thin in some places; the Iowa list is a useful second check.

Native species: 9 Typical Iowa county: 44 (median of 99 counties)
Garden-ready natives: 5 Typical Iowa county: 24
Share by type (all 9 native species): Percent of the 9 native species in each growth type

Wildflower (forb) 11% (1)
Grass or grass-like 89% (8)

Grasses and grass-like plants make up the largest share of the native list (89%), followed by wildflowers (11%).

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 5

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

Garden-ready native plants of Monroe County, Iowa
Plant	Type	Height	Light	Water use	Hardy to
Carolina foxtail Alopecurus carolinianus	Grass or grass-like	1.7 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3a
eastern gamagrass Tripsacum dactyloides	Grass or grass-like	5 ft	Sun	High	Zone 5a
nimblewill Muhlenbergia schreberi	Grass or grass-like	3.2 ft	Shade-tolerant	Low	Zone 4a
nodding fescue Festuca subverticillata	Grass or grass-like	3 ft	Sun–part shade	Medium	Zone 3a
purplestem beggarticks Bidens connata	Wildflower (forb)	3.2 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 12a

Other native species recorded here 4

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.

hairy woodland brome Bromus pubescens
lace grass Eragrostis capillaris
prairie threeawn Aristida oligantha
thin paspalum Paspalum setaceum

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, Monroe County and Iowa
Measure	Monroe County	Typical county	Statewide
Native species	9	44	1,374
Garden-ready natives	5	24	496
Tree	0	—	110
Shrub	0	—	72
Wildflower (forb)	1	—	779
Grass or grass-like	8	—	298
Vine	0	—	55
Fern	0	—	60

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Monroe County.

Appanoose County, IA 11 garden-ready
Lucas County, IA 27 garden-ready
Marion County, IA 17 garden-ready
Wapello County, IA 6 garden-ready
Wayne County, IA 14 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: Monroe County (county FIPS 19135), Iowa. 9 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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