Native plants · Texas

Native plants of Archer County

94 plant species are recorded as native to Texas in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Archer 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

Archer County, Texas

PLANTS records only 27 garden-ready natives here (under 30). County records are thin in some places; the Texas list is a useful second check.

Native species: 94 Typical Texas county: 145 (median of 254 counties)
Garden-ready natives: 27 Typical Texas county: 61
Share by type (all 94 native species): Percent of the 94 native species in each growth type

Tree 1% (1)
Shrub 2% (2)
Wildflower (forb) 73% (69)
Grass or grass-like 22% (21)
Vine 1% (1)

Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (73%), followed by grasses and grass-like plants (22%).

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 8a (2023 map).

The native plant list

Garden-ready natives 27

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

Garden-ready native plants of Archer County, Texas
Plant	Type	Height	Light	Water use	Hardy to
Arizona cottontop Digitaria californica	Grass or grass-like	4 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 6a
blue grama Bouteloua gracilis	Grass or grass-like	1 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
broom snakeweed Gutierrezia sarothrae	Shrub	1.5 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3b
Carolina foxtail Alopecurus carolinianus	Grass or grass-like	1.7 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3a
clasping coneflower Dracopis amplexicaulis	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun	High	Zone 10b
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
giant goldenrod Solidago gigantea	Wildflower (forb)	8.2 ft	Sun–part shade	Medium	Zone 4a
golden tickseed Coreopsis tinctoria	Wildflower (forb)	3 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 12b
honey mesquite Prosopis glandulosa	Tree	50 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 6a
Illinois bundleflower Desmanthus illinoensis	Wildflower (forb)	3 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 5b
Indian blanket Gaillardia pulchella	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 10b
little barley Hordeum pusillum	Grass or grass-like	1.2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 10b
Nuttall's povertyweed Monolepis nuttalliana	Wildflower (forb)	10 in	Sun	Medium	Zone 12a
Pennsylvania smartweed Polygonum pensylvanicum	Wildflower (forb)	3.9 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 10b
plains lovegrass Eragrostis intermedia	Grass or grass-like	2.7 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 5a
prairie fleabane Erigeron strigosus	Wildflower (forb)	3 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 4b
purple poppymallow Callirhoe involucrata	Wildflower (forb)	1 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3b
purple threeawn Aristida purpurea	Grass or grass-like	1.4 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 4a
salt heliotrope Heliotropium curassavicum	Wildflower (forb)	1.2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 4b
sand dropseed Sporobolus cryptandrus	Grass or grass-like	3 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
scarlet globemallow Sphaeralcea coccinea	Wildflower (forb)	1.5 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 5a
sideoats grama Bouteloua curtipendula	Grass or grass-like	3 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
tanseyleaf tansyaster Machaeranthera tanacetifolia	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 4a
upright prairie coneflower Ratibida columnifera	Wildflower (forb)	3.1 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
western wheatgrass Pascopyrum smithii	Grass or grass-like	2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
woolly plantain Plantago patagonica	Wildflower (forb)	6 in	Sun	Low	Zone 12b

Other native species recorded here 67

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 star-thistle Centaurea americana
American wild carrot Daucus pusillus
annual buckwheat Eriogonum annuum
annual marsh elder Iva annua
azure blue sage Salvia azurea
buffalobur nightshade Solanum rostratum
carelessweed Amaranthus palmeri
Carolina larkspur Delphinium carolinianum
Carolina woollywhite Hymenopappus scabiosaeus
coastal sandbur Cenchrus spinifex
creeping lovegrass Neeragrostis reptans
crowpoison Nothoscordum bivalve
Cuman ragweed Ambrosia psilostachya
curvepod fumewort Corydalis curvisiliqua
Dakota mock vervain Glandularia bipinnatifida
Engelmann's daisy Engelmannia peristenia
false boneset Brickellia eupatorioides
flatspine stickseed Lappula occidentalis
Heller's rosette grass Dichanthelium oligosanthes
hogwort Croton capitatus
Hopi tea greenthread Thelesperma megapotamicum
lacy tansyaster Machaeranthera pinnatifida
lanceleaf blanketflower Gaillardia aestivalis
Louisiana vetch Vicia ludoviciana
Madagascar dropseed Sporobolus pyramidatus
matted sandmat Chamaesyce serpens
meadow garlic Allium canadense
mucronate sprangletop Leptochloa panicea
narrowleaf four o'clock Mirabilis linearis
narrowleaf paleseed Leucospora multifida
narrowleaf purple coneflower Echinacea angustifolia
Nuttall's sensitive-briar Mimosa nuttallii
pale dock Rumex altissimus
pasture heliotrope Heliotropium tenellum
pinkladies Oenothera speciosa
prairie burnet Sanguisorba annua
prairie cupgrass Eriochloa contracta
prairie spiderwort Tradescantia occidentalis
prairie sunflower Helianthus petiolaris
prairie threeawn Aristida oligantha
ram's horn Proboscidea louisianica
redseed plantain Plantago rhodosperma
ribseed sandmat Chamaesyce glyptosperma
rough false pennyroyal Hedeoma hispida
scarlet beeblossom Oenothera suffrutescens
showy evening primrose Oenothera grandis
silverleaf nightshade Solanum elaeagnifolium
slender plantain Plantago heterophylla
slender yellow woodsorrel Oxalis dillenii
sneezeweed Helenium amarum
southern annual saltmarsh aster Symphyotrichum divaricatum
Spanish gold Grindelia papposa
spinystar Escobaria vivipara
spotted sandmat Chamaesyce maculata
stemless evening primrose Oenothera triloba
Texas bluegrass Poa arachnifera
Texas vervain Verbena halei
tumble windmill grass Chloris verticillata
tumblegrass Schedonnardus paniculatus
velvetweed Oenothera curtiflora
Virginia pepperweed Lepidium virginicum
Virginia springbeauty Claytonia virginica
warty spurge Euphorbia spathulata
wavyleaf thistle Cirsium undulatum
white heath aster Symphyotrichum ericoides
witchgrass Panicum capillare
woolly tidestromia Tidestromia lanuginosa

Compared with Texas

The typical county is the median of the 254 Texas 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, Archer County and Texas
Measure	Archer County	Typical county	Statewide
Native species	94	145	1,683
Garden-ready natives	27	61	656
Tree	1	—	164
Shrub	2	—	90
Wildflower (forb)	69	—	877
Grass or grass-like	21	—	431
Vine	1	—	83
Fern	0	—	38

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Archer County.

Clay County, TX 36 garden-ready
Jack County, TX 21 garden-ready
Wichita County, TX 74 garden-ready
Young County, TX 28 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: Archer County (county FIPS 48009), Texas. 94 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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