Native plants · South Dakota

Native plants of Turner County

74 plant species are recorded as native to South Dakota in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Turner County by USDA PLANTS. 35 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Turner County, South Dakota

Native species: 74 Typical South Dakota county: 110 (median of 65 counties)
Garden-ready natives: 35 Typical South Dakota county: 59
Share by type (all 74 native species): Percent of the 74 native species in each growth type

Tree 8% (6)
Shrub 4% (3)
Wildflower (forb) 74% (55)
Grass or grass-like 11% (8)
Fern 3% (2)

Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (74%), followed by grasses and grass-like plants (11%).

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

Garden-ready natives 35

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

Garden-ready native plants of Turner County, South Dakota
Plant	Type	Height	Light	Water use	Hardy to
American licorice Glycyrrhiza lepidota	Wildflower (forb)	4 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 3b
boxelder Acer negundo	Tree	60 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 2b
broadleaf cattail Typha latifolia	Wildflower (forb)	5 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 3b
Canada germander Teucrium canadense	Wildflower (forb)	3.3 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 3a
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
cloaked bulrush Scirpus pallidus	Grass or grass-like	5 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3b
common duckweed Lemna minor	Wildflower (forb)	—	Sun	High	Zone 3b
dotted blazing star Liatris punctata	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
downy paintedcup Castilleja sessiliflora	Wildflower (forb)	1.3 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
eastern cottonwood Populus deltoides	Tree	190 ft	Sun	High	Zone 3a
fox sedge Carex vulpinoidea	Grass or grass-like	3.2 ft	Sun–part shade	Medium	Zone 3b
green ash Fraxinus pennsylvanica	Tree	80 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 2b
green needlegrass Nassella viridula	Grass or grass-like	2 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
Indiangrass Sorghastrum nutans	Grass or grass-like	6 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3b
Indianhemp Apocynum cannabinum	Wildflower (forb)	3.3 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 3a
leadplant Amorpha canescens	Shrub	4 ft	Shade-tolerant	Low	Zone 3b
leafy pondweed Potamogeton foliosus	Wildflower (forb)	—	Sun	High	Zone 3b
littleleaf pussytoes Antennaria microphylla	Wildflower (forb)	1 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
peachleaf willow Salix amygdaloides	Tree	60 ft	Sun	High	Zone 4a
prairie fleabane Erigeron strigosus	Wildflower (forb)	3 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 4b
purple locoweed Oxytropis lambertii	Wildflower (forb)	1.4 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
river bulrush Bolboschoenus fluviatilis	Grass or grass-like	6.6 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3b
sago pondweed Stuckenia pectinata	Wildflower (forb)	—	Sun	High	Zone 3b
sandbar willow Salix interior	Tree	30 ft	Sun	—	Zone 1a
smooth sumac Rhus glabra	Tree	12 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 4a
softstem bulrush Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani	Grass or grass-like	9 ft	Sun	High	Zone 3b
stiff goldenrod Oligoneuron rigidum	Wildflower (forb)	3.6 ft	Sun–part shade	Medium	Zone 3a
swamp milkweed Asclepias incarnata	Wildflower (forb)	4.9 ft	Sun	High	Zone 3b
swamp smartweed Polygonum hydropiperoides	Wildflower (forb)	—	Sun	Medium	Zone 10b
upright prairie coneflower Ratibida columnifera	Wildflower (forb)	3.1 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
Virginia wildrye Elymus virginicus	Grass or grass-like	2.5 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 4b
western snowberry Symphoricarpos occidentalis	Shrub	3 ft	Sun–part shade	Low	Zone 3b
white panicle aster Symphyotrichum lanceolatum	Wildflower (forb)	6 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 3b
white prairie clover Dalea candida	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun–part shade	Medium	Zone 3b

Other native species recorded here 39

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
bigbract verbena Verbena bracteata
blite goosefoot Chenopodium capitatum
Canadian anemone Anemone canadensis
candle anemone Anemone cylindrica
Carolina larkspur Delphinium carolinianum
carpenter's square Scrophularia marilandica
common milkweed Asclepias syriaca
common yellow oxalis Oxalis stricta
Equisetum ×ferrissii Equisetum ×ferrissii
eyebane Chamaesyce nutans
Flodman's thistle Cirsium flodmanii
fringed loosestrife Lysimachia ciliata
green comet milkweed Asclepias viridiflora
groundplum milkvetch Astragalus crassicarpus
heartleaf four o'clock Mirabilis nyctaginea
hoary puccoon Lithospermum canescens
hoary verbena Verbena stricta
horned pondweed Zannichellia palustris
lanceleaf sage Salvia reflexa
large beardtongue Penstemon grandiflorus
Laxmann's milkvetch Astragalus laxmannii
Maximilian sunflower Helianthus maximiliani
meadow garlic Allium canadense
narrowleaf purple coneflower Echinacea angustifolia
northern selaginella Selaginella rupestris
Pennsylvania cinquefoil Potentilla pensylvanica
prairie rose Rosa arkansana
purple meadow-rue Thalictrum dasycarpum
ribseed sandmat Chamaesyce glyptosperma
scarlet beeblossom Oenothera suffrutescens
smooth oxeye Heliopsis helianthoides
soft-hair marbleseed Onosmodium bejariense
spotted sandmat Chamaesyce maculata
spotted water hemlock Cicuta maculata
stiff sunflower Helianthus pauciflorus
stiffstem flax Linum rigidum
tower rockcress Arabis glabra
white heath aster Symphyotrichum ericoides

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, Turner County and South Dakota
Measure	Turner County	Typical county	Statewide
Native species	74	110	1,092
Garden-ready natives	35	59	473
Tree	6	—	61
Shrub	3	—	69
Wildflower (forb)	55	—	640
Grass or grass-like	8	—	243
Vine	0	—	34
Fern	2	—	45

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Turner County.

Clay County, SD 156 garden-ready
Hutchinson County, SD 44 garden-ready
Lincoln County, SD 118 garden-ready
McCook County, SD 32 garden-ready
Minnehaha County, SD 116 garden-ready
Yankton County, SD 82 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: Turner County (county FIPS 46125), South Dakota. 74 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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