Native plants · Iowa

Native plants of Van Buren County

33 plant species are recorded as native to Iowa in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Van Buren County by USDA PLANTS. 10 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Van Buren County, Iowa

PLANTS records only 10 garden-ready natives here (under 30). County records are thin in some places; the Iowa list is a useful second check.

Native species: 33 Typical Iowa county: 44 (median of 99 counties)
Garden-ready natives: 10 Typical Iowa county: 24
Share by type (all 33 native species): Percent of the 33 native species in each growth type

Tree 6% (2)
Wildflower (forb) 24% (8)
Grass or grass-like 30% (10)
Fern 39% (13)

Ferns make up the largest share of the native list (39%), followed by grasses and grass-like plants (30%).

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 5b to 6a (2023 map).

The native plant list

Garden-ready natives 10

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

Garden-ready native plants of Van Buren County, Iowa
Plant	Type	Height	Light	Water use	Hardy to
bitternut hickory Carya cordiformis	Tree	75 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 2b
devil's beggartick Bidens frondosa	Wildflower (forb)	4 ft	Sun–part shade	Medium	Zone 12a
field horsetail Equisetum arvense	Fern	11 in	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 3a
fringeleaf wild petunia Ruellia humilis	Wildflower (forb)	2.6 ft	Shade-tolerant	Low	Zone 4a
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
rattlesnake fern Botrychium virginianum	Fern	1.4 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 3b
shingle oak Quercus imbricaria	Tree	45 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 5b
smooth horsetail Equisetum laevigatum	Fern	5 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
threelobe beggarticks Bidens tripartita	Wildflower (forb)	3.5 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 12a

Other native species recorded here 23

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.

bearded shorthusk Brachyelytrum erectum
big devils beggartick Bidens vulgata
bluntlobe cliff fern Woodsia obtusa
Christmas fern Polystichum acrostichoides
churchmouse threeawn Aristida dichotoma
cutleaf grapefern Botrychium dissectum
earlyleaf brome Bromus latiglumis
ebony spleenwort Asplenium platyneuron
fire on the mountain Euphorbia cyathophora
forked threeawn Aristida basiramea
hairy woodland brome Bromus pubescens
poverty oatgrass Danthonia spicata
prairie groundsel Packera plattensis
prairie threeawn Aristida oligantha
purple cliffbrake Pellaea atropurpurea
sensitive fern Onoclea sensibilis
sixweeks fescue Vulpia octoflora
slimspike threeawn Aristida longespica
smooth cliffbrake Pellaea glabella
spinulose woodfern Dryopteris carthusiana
threeflower melicgrass Melica nitens
walking fern Asplenium rhizophyllum
yellow pimpernel Taenidia integerrima

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, Van Buren County and Iowa
Measure	Van Buren County	Typical county	Statewide
Native species	33	44	1,374
Garden-ready natives	10	24	496
Tree	2	—	110
Shrub	0	—	72
Wildflower (forb)	8	—	779
Grass or grass-like	10	—	298
Vine	0	—	55
Fern	13	—	60

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Van Buren County.

Davis County, IA 8 garden-ready
Jefferson County, IA 7 garden-ready
Lee County, IA 8 garden-ready
Wapello County, IA 6 garden-ready
Clark County, MO 245 garden-ready
Scotland County, MO 151 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: Van Buren County (county FIPS 19177), Iowa. 33 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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