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Native plants recorded in your state and county

Native plants · Nebraska

Native plants of Perkins County

80 plant species are recorded as native to Nebraska in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Perkins County by USDA PLANTS. 31 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness. 1 more species is listed as both native and introduced and kept in a separate section.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Perkins County, Nebraska

Native species
80 Typical Nebraska county: 169 (median of 93 counties)
Garden-ready natives
31 Typical Nebraska county: 81
Share by type (all 80 native species)
Percent of the 80 native species in each growth type
Tree 1% (1)
Shrub 5% (4)
Wildflower (forb) 59% (47)
Grass or grass-like 33% (26)
Vine 1% (1)
Fern 1% (1)

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 31

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

Garden-ready native plants of Perkins County, Nebraska
PlantType HeightLight Water useHardy to
blue grama Bouteloua gracilis Grass or grass-like 1 ft Sun Medium Zone 3a
broadbeard beardtongue Penstemon angustifolius Wildflower (forb) 3 ft Sun Low Zone 4b
broom snakeweed Gutierrezia sarothrae Shrub 1.5 ft Sun Medium Zone 3b
crested pricklypoppy Argemone polyanthemos Wildflower (forb) 3 ft Sun Low Zone 5a
disk waterhyssop Bacopa rotundifolia Wildflower (forb) 1 in Sun High Zone 4a
dotted blazing star Liatris punctata Wildflower (forb) 2 ft Sun Medium Zone 3a
hairy false goldenaster Heterotheca villosa Wildflower (forb) 3 ft Sun Low Zone 4a
hairy grama Bouteloua hirsuta Grass or grass-like 6 in Sun Low Zone 3b
Indian ricegrass Achnatherum hymenoides Grass or grass-like 2 ft Sun Low Zone 3a
leadplant Amorpha canescens Shrub 4 ft Shade-tolerant Low Zone 3b
Missouri goldenrod Solidago missouriensis Wildflower (forb) 3 ft Sun–part shade Low Zone 3b
needle and thread Hesperostipa comata Grass or grass-like 3 ft Sun Low Zone 3b
needle spikerush Eleocharis acicularis Grass or grass-like 8 in Sun Medium Zone 5a
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 Junegrass Koeleria macrantha Grass or grass-like 1.5 ft Shade-tolerant High Zone 3b
prairie sagewort Artemisia frigida Shrub 2 ft Sun–part shade Low Zone 3a
prairie sandreed Calamovilfa longifolia Grass or grass-like 4.5 ft Sun Medium Zone 3b
purple locoweed Oxytropis lambertii Wildflower (forb) 1.4 ft Sun Low Zone 3b
sand dropseed Sporobolus cryptandrus Grass or grass-like 3 ft Sun Low Zone 3b
sandhill muhly Muhlenbergia pungens Grass or grass-like 1.5 ft Sun Low Zone 5a
showy milkweed Asclepias speciosa Wildflower (forb) 6 ft Sun Medium Zone 4a
stiff goldenrod Oligoneuron rigidum Wildflower (forb) 3.6 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 3a
tapertip flatsedge Cyperus acuminatus Grass or grass-like 1.3 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 3b
textile onion Allium textile Wildflower (forb) 1 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 3b
threadleaf sedge Carex filifolia Grass or grass-like 1.2 ft Sun Low Zone 3b
threepetal bedstraw Galium trifidum Vine 10 in Sun–part shade High Zone 3b
upright prairie coneflower Ratibida columnifera Wildflower (forb) 3.1 ft Sun Medium Zone 3a
western wheatgrass Pascopyrum smithii Grass or grass-like 2 ft Sun Medium Zone 3a
woolly locoweed Astragalus mollissimus Wildflower (forb) 2 ft Sun Low Zone 4b
woolly plantain Plantago patagonica Wildflower (forb) 6 in Sun Low Zone 12b

Other native species recorded here 49

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
  • aridland goosefoot Chenopodium desiccatum
  • azure blue sage Salvia azurea
  • bearded flatsedge Cyperus squarrosus
  • bigbract verbena Verbena bracteata
  • blowout grass Redfieldia flexuosa
  • common starlily Leucocrinum montanum
  • Cuman ragweed Ambrosia psilostachya
  • curlycup gumweed Grindelia squarrosa
  • cutleaf evening primrose Oenothera laciniata
  • Davis' sedge Carex davisii
  • Engelmann's spikerush Eleocharis engelmannii
  • flatspine stickseed Lappula occidentalis
  • foothill bladderpod Lesquerella ludoviciana
  • foxtail barley Hordeum jubatum
  • fringed willowherb Epilobium ciliatum
  • Geyer's sandmat Chamaesyce geyeri
  • hairy waterclover Marsilea vestita
  • Hall's bulrush Schoenoplectiella hallii
  • Heller's rosette grass Dichanthelium oligosanthes
  • hooded arrowhead Sagittaria calycina
  • Hopi tea greenthread Thelesperma megapotamicum
  • lacy tansyaster Machaeranthera pinnatifida
  • longbract spiderwort Tradescantia bracteata
  • narrowleaf stoneseed Lithospermum incisum
  • needleleaf sedge Carex duriuscula
  • plains snakecotton Froelichia floridana
  • prairie false dandelion Nothocalais cuspidata
  • prairie groundcherry Physalis hispida
  • prairie sandmat Chamaesyce missurica
  • purple spikerush Eleocharis atropurpurea
  • rough barnyardgrass Echinochloa muricata
  • rush skeletonplant Lygodesmia juncea
  • sand sagebrush Artemisia filifolia
  • shaggy dwarf morning-glory Evolvulus nuttallianus
  • shortbeak sedge Carex brevior
  • silverleaf Indian breadroot Pediomelum argophyllum
  • sixweeks fescue Vulpia octoflora
  • slimflower scurfpea Psoralidium tenuiflorum
  • Texas croton Croton texensis
  • tufted lovegrass Eragrostis pectinacea
  • veiny dock Rumex venosus
  • velvetweed Oenothera curtiflora
  • water mudwort Limosella aquatica
  • wavyleaf thistle Cirsium undulatum
  • wedgeleaf Phyla cuneifolia
  • white heath aster Symphyotrichum ericoides
  • white prairie aster Symphyotrichum falcatum
  • witchgrass Panicum capillare
Also listed as native and introduced here 1

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 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, Perkins County and Nebraska
MeasurePerkins CountyTypical countyStatewide
Native species 80 169 1,131
Garden-ready natives 31 81 452
Tree 1 — 68
Shrub 4 — 48
Wildflower (forb) 47 — 687
Grass or grass-like 26 — 253
Vine 1 — 46
Fern 1 — 29

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Perkins 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
Perkins County (county FIPS 31135), Nebraska. 80 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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