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Native plants · Nebraska

Native plants of Madison County

86 plant species are recorded as native to Nebraska in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Madison County by USDA PLANTS. 36 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Madison County, Nebraska

Native species
86 Typical Nebraska county: 169 (median of 93 counties)
Garden-ready natives
36 Typical Nebraska county: 81
Share by type (all 86 native species)
Percent of the 86 native species in each growth type
Tree 3% (3)
Shrub 5% (4)
Wildflower (forb) 59% (51)
Grass or grass-like 33% (28)

Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (59%), followed by grasses and grass-like plants (33%).

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 36

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

Garden-ready native plants of Madison County, Nebraska
PlantType HeightLight Water useHardy to
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
chokecherry Prunus virginiana Tree 25 ft Sun Medium Zone 3a
cloaked bulrush Scirpus pallidus Grass or grass-like 5 ft Sun Medium Zone 3b
clustered field sedge Carex praegracilis Grass or grass-like 2 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 3b
cutleaf coneflower Rudbeckia laciniata Wildflower (forb) 8.2 ft Shade-tolerant Low Zone 3b
devil's beggartick Bidens frondosa Wildflower (forb) 4 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 12a
ditch stonecrop Penthorum sedoides Wildflower (forb) 2.6 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 4b
eastern cottonwood Populus deltoides Tree 190 ft Sun High Zone 3a
fall panicgrass Panicum dichotomiflorum Grass or grass-like 3.3 ft Sun High Zone 3a
field pussytoes Antennaria neglecta Wildflower (forb) 1 ft Sun Low Zone 3b
fragrant flatsedge Cyperus odoratus Grass or grass-like 2 ft Sun Medium Zone 11b
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
nodding beggartick Bidens cernua Wildflower (forb) 3.2 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 12a
porcupinegrass Hesperostipa spartea Grass or grass-like 4 ft Sun Medium Zone 3b
prairie Junegrass Koeleria macrantha Grass or grass-like 1.5 ft Shade-tolerant High Zone 3b
purple locoweed Oxytropis lambertii Wildflower (forb) 1.4 ft Sun Low Zone 3b
purplestem beggarticks Bidens connata Wildflower (forb) 3.2 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 12a
redroot flatsedge Cyperus erythrorhizos Grass or grass-like 2.5 ft Sun Medium Zone 11a
reed canarygrass Phalaris arundinacea Grass or grass-like 5 ft Sun High Zone 3b
roundhead lespedeza Lespedeza capitata Wildflower (forb) 2.6 ft Sun Low Zone 4b
sand lovegrass Eragrostis trichodes Grass or grass-like 3.5 ft Sun Medium Zone 5a
sandcherry Prunus pumila Shrub 6 ft Shade-tolerant Low Zone 4a
sideoats grama Bouteloua curtipendula Grass or grass-like 3 ft Sun Medium Zone 3a
soapweed yucca Yucca glauca Shrub 1 ft Sun Low Zone 4b
softstem bulrush Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani Grass or grass-like 9 ft Sun High Zone 3b
strawcolored flatsedge Cyperus strigosus Grass or grass-like 3.2 ft Sun Medium Zone 4a
teal lovegrass Eragrostis hypnoides Grass or grass-like 4 in Sun High Zone 3b
Torrey's rush Juncus torreyi Grass or grass-like 3.1 ft Sun Medium Zone 3b
upright prairie coneflower Ratibida columnifera Wildflower (forb) 3.1 ft Sun Medium Zone 3a
upright sedge Carex stricta Grass or grass-like 4.2 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 3b
white panicle aster Symphyotrichum lanceolatum Wildflower (forb) 6 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 3b
whitegrass Leersia virginica Grass or grass-like 3.9 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 3a
yellow marsh marigold Caltha palustris Wildflower (forb) 2 ft Sun High Zone 3b

Other native species recorded here 50

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.

  • American dragonhead Dracocephalum parviflorum
  • American mannagrass Glyceria grandis
  • bearded flatsedge Cyperus squarrosus
  • big devils beggartick Bidens vulgata
  • Canadian anemone Anemone canadensis
  • Canadian blacksnakeroot Sanicula canadensis
  • Carolina draba Draba reptans
  • Carolina puccoon Lithospermum caroliniense
  • clammy groundcherry Physalis heterophylla
  • common boneset Eupatorium perfoliatum
  • common milkweed Asclepias syriaca
  • compassplant Silphium laciniatum
  • cutleaf evening primrose Oenothera laciniata
  • desert biscuitroot Lomatium foeniculaceum
  • Dudley's rush Juncus dudleyi
  • fire on the mountain Euphorbia cyathophora
  • foothill bladderpod Lesquerella ludoviciana
  • foxtail barley Hordeum jubatum
  • great blue lobelia Lobelia siphilitica
  • groundplum milkvetch Astragalus crassicarpus
  • Heller's rosette grass Dichanthelium oligosanthes
  • hoary verbena Verbena stricta
  • lacy tansyaster Machaeranthera pinnatifida
  • large beardtongue Penstemon grandiflorus
  • longbract spiderwort Tradescantia bracteata
  • narrowleaf purple coneflower Echinacea angustifolia
  • narrowleaf stoneseed Lithospermum incisum
  • prairie blue-eyed grass Sisyrinchium campestre
  • prairie groundsel Packera plattensis
  • prairie rose Rosa arkansana
  • prairie sandmat Chamaesyce missurica
  • prairie spiderwort Tradescantia occidentalis
  • prairie violet Viola pedatifida
  • rough barnyardgrass Echinochloa muricata
  • shortbeak sedge Carex brevior
  • sixangle spurge Euphorbia hexagona
  • slender yellow woodsorrel Oxalis dillenii
  • slenderleaf false foxglove Agalinis tenuifolia
  • smallflower halfchaff sedge Lipocarpha micrantha
  • snowball sand verbena Abronia fragrans
  • stiffstem flax Linum rigidum
  • veiny dock Rumex venosus
  • violet woodsorrel Oxalis violacea
  • western silver aster Symphyotrichum sericeum
  • western tansymustard Descurainia pinnata
  • white heath aster Symphyotrichum ericoides
  • white snakeroot Ageratina altissima
  • wholeleaf rosinweed Silphium integrifolium
  • whorled milkweed Asclepias verticillata
  • 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, Madison County and Nebraska
MeasureMadison CountyTypical countyStatewide
Native species 86 169 1,131
Garden-ready natives 36 81 452
Tree 3 — 68
Shrub 4 — 48
Wildflower (forb) 51 — 687
Grass or grass-like 28 — 253
Vine 0 — 46
Fern 0 — 29

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Madison 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
Madison County (county FIPS 31119), Nebraska. 86 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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