Natives by ZIP

Native plants recorded in your state and county

Native plants · Iowa

Native plants of Wayne County

22 plant species are recorded as native to Iowa in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Wayne County by USDA PLANTS. 14 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Wayne County, Iowa

PLANTS records only 14 garden-ready natives here (under 30). County records are thin in some places; the Iowa list is a useful second check.

Native species
22 Typical Iowa county: 44 (median of 99 counties)
Garden-ready natives
14 Typical Iowa county: 24
Share by type (all 22 native species)
Percent of the 22 native species in each growth type
Shrub 5% (1)
Wildflower (forb) 18% (4)
Grass or grass-like 64% (14)
Fern 14% (3)

Grasses and grass-like plants make up the largest share of the native list (64%), followed by wildflowers (18%).

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

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

Garden-ready natives 14

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

Garden-ready native plants of Wayne County, Iowa
PlantType HeightLight Water useHardy to
bluejoint Calamagrostis canadensis Grass or grass-like 4.9 ft Sun Medium Zone 4a
coralberry Symphoricarpos orbiculatus Shrub 2 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 5a
field horsetail Equisetum arvense Fern 11 in Sun–part shade High Zone 3a
fowl mannagrass Glyceria striata Grass or grass-like 5.7 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 3b
Indiangrass Sorghastrum nutans Grass or grass-like 6 ft Sun Medium Zone 3b
nimblewill Muhlenbergia schreberi Grass or grass-like 3.2 ft Shade-tolerant Low Zone 4a
nodding beggartick Bidens cernua Wildflower (forb) 3.2 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 12a
nodding fescue Festuca subverticillata Grass or grass-like 3 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 3a
northern maidenhair Adiantum pedatum Fern 1.3 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 3b
purpletop tridens Tridens flavus Grass or grass-like 2.5 ft Sun Low Zone 5a
rattlesnake fern Botrychium virginianum Fern 1.4 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 3b
stalkless yellowcress Rorippa sessiliflora Wildflower (forb) 1.5 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 12b
switchgrass Panicum virgatum Grass or grass-like 5 ft Sun Medium Zone 3a
threelobe beggarticks Bidens tripartita Wildflower (forb) 3.5 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 12a

Other native species recorded here 8

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.

  • foxtail barley Hordeum jubatum
  • hairy woodland brome Bromus pubescens
  • Nuttall's prairie parsley Polytaenia nuttallii
  • prairie threeawn Aristida oligantha
  • puffsheath dropseed Sporobolus neglectus
  • rough barnyardgrass Echinochloa muricata
  • tufted lovegrass Eragrostis pectinacea
  • 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, Wayne County and Iowa
MeasureWayne CountyTypical countyStatewide
Native species 22 44 1,374
Garden-ready natives 14 24 496
Tree 0 — 110
Shrub 1 — 72
Wildflower (forb) 4 — 779
Grass or grass-like 14 — 298
Vine 0 — 55
Fern 3 — 60

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Wayne 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
Wayne County (county FIPS 19185), Iowa. 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

Independent reference site. No government affiliation or endorsement.