Native plants · Nebraska

Native plants of Gosper County

77 plant species are recorded as native to Nebraska in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Gosper County by USDA PLANTS. 30 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Gosper County, Nebraska

Native species: 77 Typical Nebraska county: 169 (median of 93 counties)
Garden-ready natives: 30 Typical Nebraska county: 81
Share by type (all 77 native species): Percent of the 77 native species in each growth type

Tree 10% (8)
Shrub 8% (6)
Wildflower (forb) 58% (45)
Grass or grass-like 22% (17)
Fern 1% (1)

Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (58%), followed by grasses and grass-like plants (22%).

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 30

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

Garden-ready native plants of Gosper County, Nebraska
Plant	Type	Height	Light	Water use	Hardy to
American licorice Glycyrrhiza lepidota	Wildflower (forb)	4 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 3b
American plum Prunus americana	Tree	24 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3b
big bluestem Andropogon gerardii	Grass or grass-like	6 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 2b
blue grama Bouteloua gracilis	Grass or grass-like	1 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
boxelder Acer negundo	Tree	60 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 2b
broom snakeweed Gutierrezia sarothrae	Shrub	1.5 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3b
Canada wildrye Elymus canadensis	Grass or grass-like	3 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 3a
Canadian horseweed Conyza canadensis	Wildflower (forb)	5 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 12b
chokecherry Prunus virginiana	Tree	25 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
clustered field sedge Carex praegracilis	Grass or grass-like	2 ft	Sun–part shade	Medium	Zone 3b
downy paintedcup Castilleja sessiliflora	Wildflower (forb)	1.3 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
eastern cottonwood Populus deltoides	Tree	190 ft	Sun	High	Zone 3a
golden currant Ribes aureum	Shrub	10 ft	Sun–part shade	Low	Zone 3b
green ash Fraxinus pennsylvanica	Tree	80 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 2b
hairy grama Bouteloua hirsuta	Grass or grass-like	6 in	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
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
Missouri goldenrod Solidago missouriensis	Wildflower (forb)	3 ft	Sun–part shade	Low	Zone 3b
Pennsylvania smartweed Polygonum pensylvanicum	Wildflower (forb)	3.9 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 10b
plains muhly Muhlenbergia cuspidata	Grass or grass-like	1.4 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
purple locoweed Oxytropis lambertii	Wildflower (forb)	1.4 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
sandbar willow Salix interior	Tree	30 ft	Sun	—	Zone 1a
sideoats grama Bouteloua curtipendula	Grass or grass-like	3 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
silver buffaloberry Shepherdia argentea	Tree	18 ft	Sun–part shade	Medium	Zone 3b
smooth sumac Rhus glabra	Tree	12 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 4a
stiff goldenrod Oligoneuron rigidum	Wildflower (forb)	3.6 ft	Sun–part shade	Medium	Zone 3a
upright prairie coneflower Ratibida columnifera	Wildflower (forb)	3.1 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
western snowberry Symphoricarpos occidentalis	Shrub	3 ft	Sun–part shade	Low	Zone 3b
white prairie clover Dalea candida	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun–part shade	Medium	Zone 3b
woolly plantain Plantago patagonica	Wildflower (forb)	6 in	Sun	Low	Zone 12b

Other native species recorded here 47

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.

aromatic aster Symphyotrichum oblongifolium
Baldwin's ironweed Vernonia baldwinii
bigbract verbena Verbena bracteata
common milkweed Asclepias syriaca
Cuman ragweed Ambrosia psilostachya
curlycup gumweed Grindelia squarrosa
curlytop knotweed Polygonum lapathifolium
fire on the mountain Euphorbia cyathophora
flatspine stickseed Lappula occidentalis
fragrant sumac Rhus aromatica
Great Plains flatsedge Cyperus lupulinus
groundplum milkvetch Astragalus crassicarpus
hairy waterclover Marsilea vestita
heavy sedge Carex gravida
Heller's rosette grass Dichanthelium oligosanthes
hoary verbena Verbena stricta
Hopi tea greenthread Thelesperma megapotamicum
horned pondweed Zannichellia palustris
lacy tansyaster Machaeranthera pinnatifida
long-stolon sedge Carex inops
narrowleaf four o'clock Mirabilis linearis
narrowleaf purple coneflower Echinacea angustifolia
narrowleaf stoneseed Lithospermum incisum
needleleaf sedge Carex duriuscula
Northern Idaho biscuitroot Lomatium orientale
Nuttall's sensitive-briar Mimosa nuttallii
pale dock Rumex altissimus
pale spikerush Eleocharis macrostachya
pitseed goosefoot Chenopodium berlandieri
prairie false dandelion Nothocalais cuspidata
prairie groundsel Packera plattensis
prairie rose Rosa arkansana
prairie sunflower Helianthus petiolaris
ribseed sandmat Chamaesyce glyptosperma
rush skeletonplant Lygodesmia juncea
scarlet beeblossom Oenothera suffrutescens
shortbeak sedge Carex brevior
silverleaf Indian breadroot Pediomelum argophyllum
slimflower scurfpea Psoralidium tenuiflorum
small-leaf pussytoes Antennaria parvifolia
smooth oxeye Heliopsis helianthoides
snow on the mountain Euphorbia marginata
spotted sandmat Chamaesyce maculata
stemless Townsend daisy Townsendia exscapa
tumblegrass Schedonnardus paniculatus
white heath aster Symphyotrichum ericoides
witchgrass Panicum capillare

Compared with Nebraska

The typical county is the median of the 93 Nebraska 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, Gosper County and Nebraska
Measure	Gosper County	Typical county	Statewide
Native species	77	169	1,131
Garden-ready natives	30	81	452
Tree	8	—	68
Shrub	6	—	48
Wildflower (forb)	45	—	687
Grass or grass-like	17	—	253
Vine	0	—	46
Fern	1	—	29

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Gosper County.

Dawson County, NE 83 garden-ready
Frontier County, NE 47 garden-ready
Furnas County, NE 62 garden-ready
Phelps County, NE 70 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: Gosper County (county FIPS 31073), Nebraska. 77 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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