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Native plants recorded in your state and county

Native plants · South Dakota

Native plants of Sanborn County

93 plant species are recorded as native to South Dakota in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Sanborn County by USDA PLANTS. 49 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Sanborn County, South Dakota

Native species
93 Typical South Dakota county: 110 (median of 65 counties)
Garden-ready natives
49 Typical South Dakota county: 59
Share by type (all 93 native species)
Percent of the 93 native species in each growth type
Tree 1% (1)
Shrub 3% (3)
Wildflower (forb) 65% (60)
Grass or grass-like 30% (28)
Fern 1% (1)

Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (65%), followed by grasses and grass-like plants (30%).

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 zones 4b to 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 49

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

Garden-ready native plants of Sanborn County, South Dakota
PlantType HeightLight Water useHardy to
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
buffalograss Bouteloua dactyloides Grass or grass-like 6 in Sun Medium Zone 3b
Canada goldenrod Solidago altissima Wildflower (forb) 5 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 4b
Canada goldenrod Solidago canadensis Wildflower (forb) 3.5 ft Sun Medium Zone 3a
Canada wildrye Elymus canadensis Grass or grass-like 3 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 3a
Canadian horseweed Conyza canadensis Wildflower (forb) 5 ft Sun Medium Zone 12b
clustered field sedge Carex praegracilis Grass or grass-like 2 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 3b
common duckweed Lemna minor Wildflower (forb) — Sun High Zone 3b
composite dropseed Sporobolus compositus Grass or grass-like 3 ft Sun Low Zone 3b
devil's beggartick Bidens frondosa Wildflower (forb) 4 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 12a
disk waterhyssop Bacopa rotundifolia Wildflower (forb) 1 in Sun High Zone 4a
dotted blazing star Liatris punctata Wildflower (forb) 2 ft Sun Medium Zone 3a
Douglas' sedge Carex douglasii Grass or grass-like 1.5 ft Sun Medium Zone 4a
fowl bluegrass Poa palustris Grass or grass-like 4 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 3b
fringed brome Bromus ciliatus Grass or grass-like 4 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 7a
golden tickseed Coreopsis tinctoria Wildflower (forb) 3 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 12b
inland rush Juncus interior Grass or grass-like 3 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 3b
Jerusalem artichoke Helianthus tuberosus Wildflower (forb) 9.8 ft Sun–part shade Low Zone 3a
leadplant Amorpha canescens Shrub 4 ft Shade-tolerant Low Zone 3b
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
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
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 sandreed Calamovilfa longifolia Grass or grass-like 4.5 ft Sun Medium Zone 3b
prairie wedgescale Sphenopholis obtusata Grass or grass-like 3.2 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 3a
purple lovegrass Eragrostis spectabilis Grass or grass-like 11 in Sun Low Zone 3a
purplestem beggarticks Bidens connata Wildflower (forb) 3.2 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 12a
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
sand dropseed Sporobolus cryptandrus Grass or grass-like 3 ft Sun Low Zone 3b
sideoats grama Bouteloua curtipendula Grass or grass-like 3 ft Sun Medium Zone 3a
silver maple Acer saccharinum Tree 90 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 2b
slender wheatgrass Elymus trachycaulus Grass or grass-like 3 ft Sun Medium Zone 3b
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
threelobe beggarticks Bidens tripartita Wildflower (forb) 3.5 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 12a
tiny mousetail Myosurus minimus Wildflower (forb) 5 in Sun–part shade Medium Zone 12b
upright prairie coneflower Ratibida columnifera Wildflower (forb) 3.1 ft Sun Medium Zone 3a
valley redstem Ammannia coccinea Wildflower (forb) 1.6 ft Sun Medium Zone 3b
variableleaf pondweed Potamogeton gramineus Wildflower (forb) — Sun High Zone 3b
Virginia wildrye Elymus virginicus Grass or grass-like 2.5 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 4b
waterthread pondweed Potamogeton diversifolius Wildflower (forb) 3.2 ft Sun High Zone 3b
western snowberry Symphoricarpos occidentalis Shrub 3 ft Sun–part shade Low 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 44

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
  • aromatic aster Symphyotrichum oblongifolium
  • big devils beggartick Bidens vulgata
  • bog yellowcress Rorippa palustris
  • brittle pricklypear Opuntia fragilis
  • carelessweed Cyclachaena xanthiifolia
  • Carolina larkspur Delphinium carolinianum
  • clammy groundcherry Physalis heterophylla
  • clammy hedgehyssop Gratiola neglecta
  • common bladderwort Utricularia macrorhiza
  • Cuman ragweed Ambrosia psilostachya
  • cutleaf watermilfoil Myriophyllum pinnatum
  • flatspine stickseed Lappula occidentalis
  • foxtail barley Hordeum jubatum
  • Great Plains lady's tresses Spiranthes magnicamporum
  • great ragweed Ambrosia trifida
  • hairy hedgenettle Stachys pilosa
  • hairy waterclover Marsilea vestita
  • hairy wildrye Elymus villosus
  • heartleaf four o'clock Mirabilis nyctaginea
  • hoary verbena Verbena stricta
  • horned pondweed Zannichellia palustris
  • longleaf groundcherry Physalis longifolia
  • Maximilian sunflower Helianthus maximiliani
  • meadow garlic Allium canadense
  • narrowleaf purple coneflower Echinacea angustifolia
  • narrowleaf stoneseed Lithospermum incisum
  • neckweed Veronica peregrina
  • prairie groundsel Packera plattensis
  • prairie violet Viola pedatifida
  • ribseed sandmat Chamaesyce glyptosperma
  • rush skeletonplant Lygodesmia juncea
  • silverleaf Indian breadroot Pediomelum argophyllum
  • soft-hair marbleseed Onosmodium bejariense
  • southwestern waterwort Elatine rubella
  • stiff sunflower Helianthus pauciflorus
  • Texas goldentop Euthamia gymnospermoides
  • threadleaf crowfoot Ranunculus trichophyllus
  • tumblegrass Schedonnardus paniculatus
  • velvety goldenrod Solidago mollis
  • water mudwort Limosella aquatica
  • wavyleaf thistle Cirsium undulatum
  • 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, Sanborn County and South Dakota
MeasureSanborn CountyTypical countyStatewide
Native species 93 110 1,092
Garden-ready natives 49 59 473
Tree 1 — 61
Shrub 3 — 69
Wildflower (forb) 60 — 640
Grass or grass-like 28 — 243
Vine 0 — 34
Fern 1 — 45

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Sanborn 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
Sanborn County (county FIPS 46111), South Dakota. 93 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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