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Native plants · Montana

Native plants of Pondera County

71 plant species are recorded as native to Montana in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Pondera County by USDA PLANTS. 54 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness. 2 more species are listed as both native and introduced and kept in a separate section.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Pondera County, Montana

Native species
71 Typical Montana county: 161 (median of 56 counties)
Garden-ready natives
54 Typical Montana county: 104
Share by type (all 71 native species)
Percent of the 71 native species in each growth type
Tree 6% (4)
Shrub 14% (10)
Wildflower (forb) 72% (51)
Grass or grass-like 6% (4)
Vine 3% (2)

Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (72%), followed by shrubs (14%).

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 4a to 4b (2023 map).

The native plant list

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

Garden-ready natives 54

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

Garden-ready native plants of Pondera County, Montana
PlantType HeightLight Water useHardy to
Alberta beardtongue Penstemon albertinus Wildflower (forb) 2 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 10a
alkali buttercup Ranunculus cymbalaria Wildflower (forb) 1 ft Shade-tolerant High Zone 3b
American bistort Polygonum bistortoides Wildflower (forb) 1.5 ft Sun High Zone 3b
American licorice Glycyrrhiza lepidota Wildflower (forb) 4 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 3b
American vetch Vicia americana Vine 1.3 ft Sun Low Zone 3b
arctic sweet coltsfoot Petasites frigidus Wildflower (forb) 10 in Sun–part shade High Zone 3b
arrowleaf balsamroot Balsamorhiza sagittata Wildflower (forb) 2 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 3b
arumleaf arrowhead Sagittaria cuneata Wildflower (forb) 2.6 ft Sun Medium Zone 4a
blanketflower Gaillardia aristata Wildflower (forb) 2 ft Sun Medium Zone 4a
broom snakeweed Gutierrezia sarothrae Shrub 1.5 ft Sun Medium Zone 3b
Canadian horseweed Conyza canadensis Wildflower (forb) 5 ft Sun Medium Zone 12b
chokecherry Prunus virginiana Tree 25 ft Sun Medium Zone 3a
common cowparsnip Heracleum maximum Wildflower (forb) 8 ft Sun High Zone 3b
curvepod yellowcress Rorippa curvisiliqua Wildflower (forb) 1 ft Shade-tolerant High Zone 12b
Eschscholtz's buttercup Ranunculus eschscholtzii Wildflower (forb) 1 ft Sun Medium Zone 4a
field pussytoes Antennaria neglecta Wildflower (forb) 1 ft Sun Low Zone 3b
fireweed Chamerion angustifolium Wildflower (forb) 5.5 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 3b
fowl bluegrass Poa palustris Grass or grass-like 4 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 3b
Gardner's saltbush Atriplex gardneri Shrub 4 ft Sun Low Zone 3b
giant goldenrod Solidago gigantea Wildflower (forb) 8.2 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 4a
golden currant Ribes aureum Shrub 10 ft Sun–part shade Low Zone 3b
hairy false goldenaster Heterotheca villosa Wildflower (forb) 3 ft Sun Low Zone 4a
longstalk starwort Stellaria longipes Wildflower (forb) 11 in Sun–part shade High Zone 4a
Missouri goldenrod Solidago missouriensis Wildflower (forb) 3 ft Sun–part shade Low Zone 3b
nineleaf biscuitroot Lomatium triternatum Wildflower (forb) 2.2 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 4a
Nuttall's povertyweed Monolepis nuttalliana Wildflower (forb) 10 in Sun Medium Zone 12a
Nuttall's sunflower Helianthus nuttallii Wildflower (forb) 10 ft Sun Medium Zone 3b
Pacific anemone Anemone multifida Wildflower (forb) 2 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 5a
pale agoseris Agoseris glauca Shrub 1 ft Sun Medium Zone 4a
poverty rush Juncus tenuis Grass or grass-like 1.5 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 3b
prairie sagewort Artemisia frigida Shrub 2 ft Sun–part shade Low Zone 3a
quaking aspen Populus tremuloides Tree 65 ft Sun High Zone 1a
redosier dogwood Cornus sericea Tree 12 ft Sun High Zone 3b
Richardson's geranium Geranium richardsonii Wildflower (forb) 3 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 3b
rubber rabbitbrush Ericameria nauseosa Shrub 4 ft Sun Medium Zone 3b
sagebrush buttercup Ranunculus glaberrimus Wildflower (forb) 6 in Sun High Zone 3a
sanddune wallflower Erysimum capitatum Wildflower (forb) 2.5 ft Sun Medium Zone 4b
scarlet globemallow Sphaeralcea coccinea Wildflower (forb) 1.5 ft Sun Low Zone 5a
Scouler's willow Salix scouleriana Tree 50 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 6a
shrubby cinquefoil Dasiphora fruticosa Shrub 2.5 ft Sun–part shade Low Zone 4b
silky lupine Lupinus sericeus Wildflower (forb) 6 ft Sun Low Zone 4b
silverweed cinquefoil Argentina anserina Wildflower (forb) 6 in Shade-tolerant High Zone 5a
skunkbush sumac Rhus trilobata Shrub 4 ft Sun–part shade Low Zone 2a
slender cinquefoil Potentilla gracilis Wildflower (forb) 2.4 ft Sun Low Zone 3a
smooth blue aster Symphyotrichum laeve Wildflower (forb) 4 ft Sun Medium Zone 3a
sticky purple geranium Geranium viscosissimum Wildflower (forb) 3 ft Shade-tolerant Low Zone 6a
stiff goldenrod Oligoneuron rigidum Wildflower (forb) 3.6 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 3a
threadleaf sedge Carex filifolia Grass or grass-like 1.2 ft Sun Low Zone 3b
twinberry honeysuckle Lonicera involucrata Shrub 10 ft Shade-tolerant High Zone 3a
Utah sweetvetch Hedysarum boreale Wildflower (forb) 2 ft Sun Medium Zone 3b
western sweetroot Osmorhiza occidentalis Wildflower (forb) 4 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 3b
white sweetvetch Hedysarum sulphurescens Wildflower (forb) 1.5 ft Sun–part shade Low Zone 4a
woolly groundsel Packera cana Wildflower (forb) 1.5 ft Sun Low Zone 3a
yellow penstemon Penstemon confertus Wildflower (forb) 2 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 5a

Other native species recorded here 17

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.

  • bastard toadflax Comandra umbellata
  • Canadian gooseberry Ribes oxyacanthoides
  • cream pea Lathyrus ochroleucus
  • Douglas' knotweed Polygonum douglasii
  • elkweed Frasera speciosa
  • great ragweed Ambrosia trifida
  • groundplum milkvetch Astragalus crassicarpus
  • Laxmann's milkvetch Astragalus laxmannii
  • manyflower stickseed Hackelia floribunda
  • rosy pussytoes Antennaria rosea
  • scarlet beeblossom Oenothera suffrutescens
  • shortbeak sedge Carex brevior
  • spreading fleabane Erigeron divergens
  • stemless four-nerve daisy Tetraneuris acaulis
  • strict blue-eyed grass Sisyrinchium montanum
  • tiny trumpet Collomia linearis
  • woolly cinquefoil Potentilla hippiana
Also listed as native and introduced here 2

PLANTS labels these species both native and introduced in this state: some forms are native and others were brought in from elsewhere. Most gardeners should choose plants from the main list.

Compared with Montana

The typical county is the median of the 56 Montana 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, Pondera County and Montana
MeasurePondera CountyTypical countyStatewide
Native species 71 161 1,086
Garden-ready natives 54 104 606
Tree 4 — 71
Shrub 10 — 98
Wildflower (forb) 51 — 609
Grass or grass-like 4 — 246
Vine 2 — 18
Fern 0 — 44

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Pondera 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
Pondera County (county FIPS 30073), Montana. 71 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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