Native plants · South Dakota
Native plants of Edmunds County
40 plant species are recorded as native to South Dakota in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Edmunds County by USDA PLANTS. 27 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness.
County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP
Edmunds County, South Dakota
PLANTS records only 27 garden-ready natives here (under 30). County records are thin in some places; the South Dakota list is a useful second check.
- Native species
- 40 Typical South Dakota county: 110 (median of 65 counties)
- Garden-ready natives
- 27 Typical South Dakota county: 59
- Share by type (all 40 native species)
-
Percent of the 40 native species in each growth type
Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (60%), followed by grasses and grass-like plants (38%).
The native plant list
Garden-ready natives 27
Native species with PLANTS growing records (height, light, moisture, minimum temperature). “—” means PLANTS has no value.
| Plant | Type | Height | Light | Water use | Hardy to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bebb's sedge Carex bebbii | Grass or grass-like | 3 ft | Shade-tolerant | High | Zone 3b |
| big bluestem Andropogon gerardii | Grass or grass-like | 6 ft | Sun | Low | Zone 2b |
| common duckweed Lemna minor | Wildflower (forb) | — | Sun | High | Zone 3b |
| devil's beggartick Bidens frondosa | Wildflower (forb) | 4 ft | Sun–part shade | Medium | Zone 12a |
| fox sedge Carex vulpinoidea | Grass or grass-like | 3.2 ft | Sun–part shade | Medium | Zone 3b |
| golden tickseed Coreopsis tinctoria | Wildflower (forb) | 3 ft | Sun–part shade | High | Zone 12b |
| green needlegrass Nassella viridula | Grass or grass-like | 2 ft | Sun | Low | Zone 3b |
| lambstongue ragwort Senecio integerrimus | Wildflower (forb) | 1.1 ft | Sun–part shade | Medium | Zone 3b |
| little bluestem Schizachyrium scoparium | Grass or grass-like | 3 ft | Sun | Low | Zone 3b |
| narrowleaf water plantain Alisma gramineum | Wildflower (forb) | 1.5 ft | Sun | High | Zone 3a |
| needle and thread Hesperostipa comata | Grass or grass-like | 3 ft | Sun | 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 cordgrass Spartina pectinata | Grass or grass-like | 8 ft | Sun | High | 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 |
| purple milkvetch Astragalus agrestis | Wildflower (forb) | 1 ft | Sun | Low | Zone 4a |
| reed canarygrass Phalaris arundinacea | Grass or grass-like | 5 ft | Sun | High | Zone 3b |
| sago pondweed Stuckenia pectinata | Wildflower (forb) | — | Sun | High | Zone 3b |
| sandbar willow Salix interior | Tree | 30 ft | Sun | — | Zone 1a |
| sideoats grama Bouteloua curtipendula | Grass or grass-like | 3 ft | Sun | Medium | Zone 3a |
| softstem bulrush Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani | Grass or grass-like | 9 ft | Sun | High | Zone 3b |
| switchgrass Panicum virgatum | Grass or grass-like | 5 ft | Sun | Medium | Zone 3a |
| upright prairie coneflower Ratibida columnifera | Wildflower (forb) | 3.1 ft | Sun | Medium | Zone 3a |
| white doll's daisy Boltonia asteroides | Wildflower (forb) | 8 ft | Sun–part shade | Medium | Zone 3b |
| white panicle aster Symphyotrichum lanceolatum | Wildflower (forb) | 6 ft | Sun–part shade | High | Zone 3b |
| yellow owl's-clover Orthocarpus luteus | Wildflower (forb) | 1.5 ft | Sun | Low | Zone 12b |
No garden-ready natives match these filters. Try clearing one.
Other native species recorded here 13
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.
Hidden while “Garden-ready only” is on.
- American sloughgrass Beckmannia syzigachne
- big devils beggartick Bidens vulgata
- bushy knotweed Polygonum ramosissimum
- foxtail prairie clover Dalea leporina
- lilac penstemon Penstemon gracilis
- northern water plantain Alisma triviale
- Paradox cinquefoil Potentilla paradoxa
- shy wallflower Erysimum inconspicuum
- silverleaf Indian breadroot Pediomelum argophyllum
- soft-hair marbleseed Onosmodium bejariense
- stiff sunflower Helianthus pauciflorus
- white heath aster Symphyotrichum ericoides
- woolly sedge Carex pellita
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.
| Measure | Edmunds County | Typical county | Statewide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Native species | 40 | 110 | 1,092 |
| Garden-ready natives | 27 | 59 | 473 |
| Tree | 1 | — | 61 |
| Shrub | 0 | — | 69 |
| Wildflower (forb) | 24 | — | 640 |
| Grass or grass-like | 15 | — | 243 |
| Vine | 0 | — | 34 |
| Fern | 0 | — | 45 |
Neighboring counties
Counties that share a ZIP code with Edmunds County.
- Brown County, SD 66 garden-ready
- Faulk County, SD 54 garden-ready
- McPherson County, SD 37 garden-ready
- Potter County, SD 27 garden-ready
- Walworth County, SD 69 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
- Edmunds County (county FIPS 46045), South Dakota. 40 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