Natives by ZIP

Native plants recorded in your state and county

Native plants · South Dakota

Native plants of Douglas County

64 plant species are recorded as native to South Dakota in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Douglas 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

Douglas County, South Dakota

Native species
64 Typical South Dakota county: 110 (median of 65 counties)
Garden-ready natives
30 Typical South Dakota county: 59
Share by type (all 64 native species)
Percent of the 64 native species in each growth type
Tree 3% (2)
Shrub 2% (1)
Wildflower (forb) 77% (49)
Grass or grass-like 17% (11)
Vine 2% (1)

Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (77%), followed by grasses and grass-like plants (17%).

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 5a (2023 map).

The native plant list

Cold hardiness is estimated from each plant’s PLANTS minimum temperature. How we estimate it.

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 Douglas County, South Dakota
PlantType HeightLight Water useHardy to
American licorice Glycyrrhiza lepidota Wildflower (forb) 4 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 3b
American vetch Vicia americana Vine 1.3 ft Sun Low 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
broadfruit bur-reed Sparganium eurycarpum Wildflower (forb) 4.9 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 4a
chokecherry Prunus virginiana Tree 25 ft Sun Medium Zone 3a
common duckweed Lemna minor Wildflower (forb) — Sun High Zone 3b
green needlegrass Nassella viridula Grass or grass-like 2 ft Sun Low Zone 3b
Indianhemp Apocynum cannabinum Wildflower (forb) 3.3 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 3a
lambstongue ragwort Senecio integerrimus Wildflower (forb) 1.1 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 3b
leafy pondweed Potamogeton foliosus Wildflower (forb) — Sun High Zone 3b
longleaf pondweed Potamogeton nodosus Wildflower (forb) — Sun High 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
Pennsylvania smartweed Polygonum pensylvanicum Wildflower (forb) 3.9 ft Sun Medium Zone 10b
prairie cordgrass Spartina pectinata Grass or grass-like 8 ft Sun High Zone 3b
prairie fleabane Erigeron strigosus Wildflower (forb) 3 ft Sun Medium Zone 4b
reed canarygrass Phalaris arundinacea Grass or grass-like 5 ft Sun High Zone 3b
rough bentgrass Agrostis scabra Grass or grass-like 2.5 ft Sun Medium Zone 3b
roughfruit amaranth Amaranthus tuberculatus Wildflower (forb) 6.6 ft Sun High Zone 4a
sago pondweed Stuckenia pectinata Wildflower (forb) — Sun High Zone 3b
sandbar willow Salix interior Tree 30 ft Sun — Zone 1a
scarlet globemallow Sphaeralcea coccinea Wildflower (forb) 1.5 ft Sun Low Zone 5a
southern waternymph Najas guadalupensis Wildflower (forb) 1 ft Sun High Zone 3b
spreading yellowcress Rorippa sinuata Wildflower (forb) 1 ft Sun Medium Zone 3b
star duckweed Lemna trisulca Wildflower (forb) 4 in Sun High Zone 3b
stiff goldenrod Oligoneuron rigidum Wildflower (forb) 3.6 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 3a
textile onion Allium textile Wildflower (forb) 1 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 3b
water knotweed Polygonum amphibium Wildflower (forb) 1 in Sun High Zone 5a
white doll's daisy Boltonia asteroides Wildflower (forb) 8 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 3b

Other native species recorded here 34

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.

  • big devils beggartick Bidens vulgata
  • Carolina anemone Anemone caroliniana
  • Carolina draba Draba reptans
  • common bladderwort Utricularia macrorhiza
  • curlycup gumweed Grindelia squarrosa
  • great ragweed Ambrosia trifida
  • groundplum milkvetch Astragalus crassicarpus
  • hoary verbena Verbena stricta
  • horned pondweed Zannichellia palustris
  • leathery knotweed Polygonum achoreum
  • Maximilian sunflower Helianthus maximiliani
  • narrowleaf stoneseed Lithospermum incisum
  • Northern Idaho biscuitroot Lomatium orientale
  • northern water plantain Alisma triviale
  • plains springparsley Cymopterus acaulis
  • prairie ironweed Vernonia fasciculata
  • prairie rose Rosa arkansana
  • purple meadow-rue Thalictrum dasycarpum
  • ribseed sandmat Chamaesyce glyptosperma
  • Richardson's pondweed Potamogeton richardsonii
  • rough barnyardgrass Echinochloa muricata
  • rough false pennyroyal Hedeoma hispida
  • rush skeletonplant Lygodesmia juncea
  • shortstalk chickweed Cerastium brachypodum
  • shy wallflower Erysimum inconspicuum
  • silverleaf Indian breadroot Pediomelum argophyllum
  • slimflower scurfpea Psoralidium tenuiflorum
  • small pondweed Potamogeton pusillus
  • spotted sandmat Chamaesyce maculata
  • tumblegrass Schedonnardus paniculatus
  • velvety goldenrod Solidago mollis
  • western rockjasmine Androsace occidentalis
  • white heath aster Symphyotrichum ericoides
  • witchgrass Panicum capillare

Compared with South Dakota

The typical county is the median of the 65 South Dakota 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, Douglas County and South Dakota
MeasureDouglas CountyTypical countyStatewide
Native species 64 110 1,092
Garden-ready natives 30 59 473
Tree 2 — 61
Shrub 1 — 69
Wildflower (forb) 49 — 640
Grass or grass-like 11 — 243
Vine 1 — 34
Fern 0 — 45

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Douglas 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
Douglas County (county FIPS 46043), South Dakota. 64 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

Independent reference site. No government affiliation or endorsement.