Natives by ZIP

Native plants recorded in your state and county

Native plants · South Dakota

Native plants of McPherson County

57 plant species are recorded as native to South Dakota in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in McPherson County by USDA PLANTS. 37 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

McPherson County, South Dakota

Native species
57 Typical South Dakota county: 110 (median of 65 counties)
Garden-ready natives
37 Typical South Dakota county: 59
Share by type (all 57 native species)
Percent of the 57 native species in each growth type
Tree 9% (5)
Shrub 5% (3)
Wildflower (forb) 58% (33)
Grass or grass-like 28% (16)

Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (58%), followed by grasses and grass-like plants (28%).

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 37

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

Garden-ready native plants of McPherson County, South Dakota
PlantType HeightLight Water useHardy to
American licorice Glycyrrhiza lepidota Wildflower (forb) 4 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 3b
American plum Prunus americana Tree 24 ft Sun Medium 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
broadleaf arrowhead Sagittaria latifolia Wildflower (forb) 4.9 ft Sun High Zone 4a
broadleaf cattail Typha latifolia Wildflower (forb) 5 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 3b
common spikerush Eleocharis palustris Grass or grass-like 1.3 ft Sun High Zone 3b
eastern cottonwood Populus deltoides Tree 190 ft Sun High Zone 3a
green ash Fraxinus pennsylvanica Tree 80 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 2b
hairy false goldenaster Heterotheca villosa Wildflower (forb) 3 ft Sun Low Zone 4a
hardstem bulrush Schoenoplectus acutus Grass or grass-like 9.8 ft Sun High Zone 3b
Indianhemp Apocynum cannabinum Wildflower (forb) 3.3 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 3a
inland rush Juncus interior Grass or grass-like 3 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 3b
knotted rush Juncus nodosus Grass or grass-like 2 ft Sun Medium Zone 4b
leadplant Amorpha canescens Shrub 4 ft Shade-tolerant Low Zone 3b
leafy pondweed Potamogeton foliosus Wildflower (forb) — Sun High Zone 3b
Missouri goldenrod Solidago missouriensis Wildflower (forb) 3 ft Sun–part shade Low Zone 3b
narrowleaf water plantain Alisma gramineum Wildflower (forb) 1.5 ft Sun High Zone 3a
needle spikerush Eleocharis acicularis Grass or grass-like 8 in Sun Medium Zone 5a
pale agoseris Agoseris glauca Shrub 1 ft Sun Medium Zone 4a
peachleaf willow Salix amygdaloides Tree 60 ft Sun High Zone 4a
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
prairie sagewort Artemisia frigida Shrub 2 ft Sun–part shade Low Zone 3a
reed canarygrass Phalaris arundinacea Grass or grass-like 5 ft Sun High Zone 3b
river bulrush Bolboschoenus fluviatilis Grass or grass-like 6.6 ft Sun Medium Zone 3b
sandbar willow Salix interior Tree 30 ft Sun — Zone 1a
shortawn foxtail Alopecurus aequalis Grass or grass-like 2.5 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 3b
showy milkweed Asclepias speciosa Wildflower (forb) 6 ft Sun Medium Zone 4a
slender wheatgrass Elymus trachycaulus Grass or grass-like 3 ft Sun Medium 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
water knotweed Polygonum amphibium Wildflower (forb) 1 in Sun High Zone 5a
waterthread pondweed Potamogeton diversifolius Wildflower (forb) 3.2 ft Sun High Zone 3b
western wheatgrass Pascopyrum smithii Grass or grass-like 2 ft Sun Medium Zone 3a
yellow owl's-clover Orthocarpus luteus Wildflower (forb) 1.5 ft Sun Low Zone 12b

Other native species recorded here 20

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.

  • American sloughgrass Beckmannia syzigachne
  • common bladderwort Utricularia macrorhiza
  • curlycup gumweed Grindelia squarrosa
  • Flodman's thistle Cirsium flodmanii
  • foxtail barley Hordeum jubatum
  • grassy arrowhead Sagittaria graminea
  • hairy hedgenettle Stachys pilosa
  • lilac penstemon Penstemon gracilis
  • narrowleaf purple coneflower Echinacea angustifolia
  • northern water plantain Alisma triviale
  • palespike lobelia Lobelia spicata
  • Pennsylvania cinquefoil Potentilla pensylvanica
  • prairie ironweed Vernonia fasciculata
  • redwool plantain Plantago eriopoda
  • ribseed sandmat Chamaesyce glyptosperma
  • rush skeletonplant Lygodesmia juncea
  • scarlet beeblossom Oenothera suffrutescens
  • silverleaf Indian breadroot Pediomelum argophyllum
  • spotted water hemlock Cicuta maculata
  • strict blue-eyed grass Sisyrinchium montanum

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, McPherson County and South Dakota
MeasureMcPherson CountyTypical countyStatewide
Native species 57 110 1,092
Garden-ready natives 37 59 473
Tree 5 — 61
Shrub 3 — 69
Wildflower (forb) 33 — 640
Grass or grass-like 16 — 243
Vine 0 — 34
Fern 0 — 45

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with McPherson 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
McPherson County (county FIPS 46089), South Dakota. 57 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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