Native plants · Nebraska

Native plants of McPherson County

75 plant species are recorded as native to Nebraska in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in McPherson County by USDA PLANTS. 29 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

McPherson County, Nebraska

PLANTS records only 29 garden-ready natives here (under 30). County records are thin in some places; the Nebraska list is a useful second check.

Native species: 75 Typical Nebraska county: 169 (median of 93 counties)
Garden-ready natives: 29 Typical Nebraska county: 81
Share by type (all 75 native species): Percent of the 75 native species in each growth type

Tree 4% (3)
Shrub 4% (3)
Wildflower (forb) 76% (57)
Grass or grass-like 15% (11)
Fern 1% (1)

Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (76%), followed by grasses and grass-like plants (15%).

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 29

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

Garden-ready native plants of McPherson 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
American water horehound Lycopus americanus	Wildflower (forb)	1.8 ft	Shade-tolerant	High	Zone 3b
blackeyed Susan Rudbeckia hirta	Wildflower (forb)	1 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 5a
Canada germander Teucrium canadense	Wildflower (forb)	3.3 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 3a
Canada wildrye Elymus canadensis	Grass or grass-like	3 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 3a
crested pricklypoppy Argemone polyanthemos	Wildflower (forb)	3 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 5a
eastern cottonwood Populus deltoides	Tree	190 ft	Sun	High	Zone 3a
field pussytoes Antennaria neglecta	Wildflower (forb)	1 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
gray goldenrod Solidago nemoralis	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 4a
hairy grama Bouteloua hirsuta	Grass or grass-like	6 in	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
Indianhemp Apocynum cannabinum	Wildflower (forb)	3.3 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 3a
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
peachleaf willow Salix amygdaloides	Tree	60 ft	Sun	High	Zone 4a
prairie fleabane Erigeron strigosus	Wildflower (forb)	3 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 4b
prairie Junegrass Koeleria macrantha	Grass or grass-like	1.5 ft	Shade-tolerant	High	Zone 3b
purple poppymallow Callirhoe involucrata	Wildflower (forb)	1 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3b
sandcherry Prunus pumila	Shrub	6 ft	Shade-tolerant	Low	Zone 4a
showy milkweed Asclepias speciosa	Wildflower (forb)	6 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 4a
smooth horsetail Equisetum laevigatum	Fern	5 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
swamp milkweed Asclepias incarnata	Wildflower (forb)	4.9 ft	Sun	High	Zone 3b
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
upright prairie coneflower Ratibida columnifera	Wildflower (forb)	3.1 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
white prairie clover Dalea candida	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun–part shade	Medium	Zone 3b
white sagebrush Artemisia ludoviciana	Wildflower (forb)	3 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 4a
winter bentgrass Agrostis hyemalis	Grass or grass-like	3.5 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 4a
woolly plantain Plantago patagonica	Wildflower (forb)	6 in	Sun	Low	Zone 12b

Other native species recorded here 46

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.

annual buckwheat Eriogonum annuum
biannual lettuce Lactuca ludoviciana
bigbract verbena Verbena bracteata
blowout grass Redfieldia flexuosa
Carolina larkspur Delphinium carolinianum
Carolina puccoon Lithospermum caroliniense
clammy groundcherry Physalis heterophylla
curlytop knotweed Polygonum lapathifolium
flatspine stickseed Lappula occidentalis
foothill bladderpod Lesquerella ludoviciana
fourpoint evening primrose Oenothera rhombipetala
foxtail barley Hordeum jubatum
green comet milkweed Asclepias viridiflora
hairy four o'clock Mirabilis hirsuta
Heller's rosette grass Dichanthelium oligosanthes
hoary verbena Verbena stricta
Hopi tea greenthread Thelesperma megapotamicum
James' cryptantha Cryptantha cinerea
lacy tansyaster Machaeranthera pinnatifida
lemon scurfpea Psoralidium lanceolatum
longbract spiderwort Tradescantia bracteata
longleaf groundcherry Physalis longifolia
Norwegian cinquefoil Potentilla norvegica
plains snakecotton Froelichia floridana
pony beebalm Monarda pectinata
prairie groundcherry Physalis hispida
prairie rose Rosa arkansana
prairie sandmat Chamaesyce missurica
prairie sunflower Helianthus petiolaris
rush skeletonplant Lygodesmia juncea
sandhill amaranth Amaranthus arenicola
shortbeak sedge Carex brevior
shortseed waterwort Elatine brachysperma
silverleaf Indian breadroot Pediomelum argophyllum
sixweeks fescue Vulpia octoflora
slimflower scurfpea Psoralidium tenuiflorum
small-leaf pussytoes Antennaria parvifolia
stiffstem flax Linum rigidum
strict blue-eyed grass Sisyrinchium montanum
Texas croton Croton texensis
thin paspalum Paspalum setaceum
veiny dock Rumex venosus
velvetweed Oenothera curtiflora
wavyleaf thistle Cirsium undulatum
western silver aster Symphyotrichum sericeum
winged pigweed Cycloloma atriplicifolium

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, McPherson County and Nebraska
Measure	McPherson County	Typical county	Statewide
Native species	75	169	1,131
Garden-ready natives	29	81	452
Tree	3	—	68
Shrub	3	—	48
Wildflower (forb)	57	—	687
Grass or grass-like	11	—	253
Vine	0	—	46
Fern	1	—	29

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with McPherson County.

Keith County, NE 105 garden-ready
Lincoln County, NE 139 garden-ready
Logan County, NE 54 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: McPherson County (county FIPS 31117), Nebraska. 75 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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