Native plants · Puerto Rico

Native plants of Yauco Municipio

7 plant species are recorded as native to Puerto Rico in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Yauco Municipio by USDA PLANTS. 7 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Yauco Municipio, Puerto Rico

PLANTS records only 7 garden-ready natives here (under 30). County records are thin in some places; the Puerto Rico list is a useful second check.

Native species: 7 Typical Puerto Rico county: 6 (median of 74 counties)
Garden-ready natives: 7 Typical Puerto Rico county: 3
Share by type (all 7 native species): Percent of the 7 native species in each growth type

Tree 29% (2)
Shrub 14% (1)
Wildflower (forb) 14% (1)
Grass or grass-like 29% (2)
Vine 14% (1)

Trees make up the largest share of the native list (29%), followed by grasses and grass-like plants (29%).

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 12b (2023 map).

The native plant list

Garden-ready natives 7

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

Garden-ready native plants of Yauco Municipio, Puerto Rico
Plant	Type	Height	Light	Water use	Hardy to
female karata Furcraea tuberosa	Shrub	1 ft	—	—	Zone 11a
fragrant flatsedge Cyperus odoratus	Grass or grass-like	2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 11b
leafy pondweed Potamogeton foliosus	Wildflower (forb)	—	Sun	High	Zone 3b
Puerto Rico palmetto Sabal causiarum	Tree	50 ft	Sun	—	Zone 10a
Sierran palm Prestoea acuminata	Tree	70 ft	—	—	Zone 11a
Spanish moss Tillandsia usneoides	Vine	—	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 9b
swamp sawgrass Cladium mariscus	Grass or grass-like	8.2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 8b

Compared with Puerto Rico

The typical county is the median of the 74 Puerto Rico 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, Yauco Municipio and Puerto Rico
Measure	Yauco Municipio	Typical county	Statewide
Native species	7	6	253
Garden-ready natives	7	3	141
Tree	2	—	76
Shrub	1	—	5
Wildflower (forb)	1	—	88
Grass or grass-like	2	—	69
Vine	1	—	9
Fern	0	—	6

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Yauco Municipio.

Guayanilla Municipio, PR 4 garden-ready
Maricao Municipio, PR 4 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: Yauco Municipio (county FIPS 72153), Puerto Rico. 7 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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