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Native plants · South Dakota

Native plants of Hand County

46 plant species are recorded as native to South Dakota in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Hand County by USDA PLANTS. 25 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Hand County, South Dakota

PLANTS records only 25 garden-ready natives here (under 30). County records are thin in some places; the South Dakota list is a useful second check.

Native species
46 Typical South Dakota county: 110 (median of 65 counties)
Garden-ready natives
25 Typical South Dakota county: 59
Share by type (all 46 native species)
Percent of the 46 native species in each growth type
Tree 2% (1)
Shrub 4% (2)
Wildflower (forb) 67% (31)
Grass or grass-like 24% (11)
Fern 2% (1)

Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (67%), followed by grasses and grass-like plants (24%).

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 4b (2023 map).

The native plant list

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

Garden-ready natives 25

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

Garden-ready native plants of Hand County, South Dakota
PlantType HeightLight Water useHardy to
big bluestem Andropogon gerardii Grass or grass-like 6 ft Sun Low Zone 2b
buffalograss Bouteloua dactyloides Grass or grass-like 6 in Sun Medium Zone 3b
Canada goldenrod Solidago canadensis Wildflower (forb) 3.5 ft Sun Medium Zone 3a
Canadian horseweed Conyza canadensis Wildflower (forb) 5 ft Sun Medium Zone 12b
composite dropseed Sporobolus compositus Grass or grass-like 3 ft Sun Low Zone 3b
dotted blazing star Liatris punctata Wildflower (forb) 2 ft Sun Medium Zone 3a
field horsetail Equisetum arvense Fern 11 in Sun–part shade High Zone 3a
golden tickseed Coreopsis tinctoria Wildflower (forb) 3 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 12b
Indianhemp Apocynum cannabinum Wildflower (forb) 3.3 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 3a
little bluestem Schizachyrium scoparium Grass or grass-like 3 ft Sun Low Zone 3b
Missouri goldenrod Solidago missouriensis Wildflower (forb) 3 ft Sun–part shade Low 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
prairie sagewort Artemisia frigida Shrub 2 ft Sun–part shade Low Zone 3a
sandbar willow Salix interior Tree 30 ft Sun — Zone 1a
scarlet globemallow Sphaeralcea coccinea Wildflower (forb) 1.5 ft Sun Low Zone 5a
scratchgrass Muhlenbergia asperifolia Grass or grass-like 2 ft Shade-tolerant High Zone 5b
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
switchgrass Panicum virgatum Grass or grass-like 5 ft Sun 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 panicle aster Symphyotrichum lanceolatum Wildflower (forb) 6 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 3b
white sagebrush Artemisia ludoviciana Wildflower (forb) 3 ft Sun Low Zone 4a
woolly plantain Plantago patagonica Wildflower (forb) 6 in Sun Low Zone 12b

Other native species recorded here 21

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.

  • carelessweed Cyclachaena xanthiifolia
  • Carolina larkspur Delphinium carolinianum
  • Cuman ragweed Ambrosia psilostachya
  • curlycup gumweed Grindelia squarrosa
  • flatspine stickseed Lappula occidentalis
  • Flodman's thistle Cirsium flodmanii
  • lilac penstemon Penstemon gracilis
  • Maximilian sunflower Helianthus maximiliani
  • needleleaf sedge Carex duriuscula
  • Pennsylvania cinquefoil Potentilla pensylvanica
  • prairie ironweed Vernonia fasciculata
  • prairie rose Rosa arkansana
  • Pursh seepweed Suaeda calceoliformis
  • rough false pennyroyal Hedeoma hispida
  • shortbeak sedge Carex brevior
  • silverleaf Indian breadroot Pediomelum argophyllum
  • strict blue-eyed grass Sisyrinchium montanum
  • tarragon Artemisia dracunculus
  • velvety goldenrod Solidago mollis
  • 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, Hand County and South Dakota
MeasureHand CountyTypical countyStatewide
Native species 46 110 1,092
Garden-ready natives 25 59 473
Tree 1 — 61
Shrub 2 — 69
Wildflower (forb) 31 — 640
Grass or grass-like 11 — 243
Vine 0 — 34
Fern 1 — 45

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Hand 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
Hand County (county FIPS 46059), South Dakota. 46 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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