Native plants · Texas

Native plants of Atascosa County

74 plant species are recorded as native to Texas in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Atascosa County by USDA PLANTS. 25 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness. 3 more species are listed as both native and introduced and kept in a separate section.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Atascosa County, Texas

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

Native species: 74 Typical Texas county: 145 (median of 254 counties)
Garden-ready natives: 25 Typical Texas county: 61
Share by type (all 74 native species): Percent of the 74 native species in each growth type

Tree 5% (4)
Wildflower (forb) 50% (37)
Grass or grass-like 41% (30)
Vine 3% (2)
Fern 1% (1)

Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (50%), followed by grasses and grass-like plants (41%).

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 9a (2023 map).

The native plant list

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 Atascosa County, Texas
Plant	Type	Height	Light	Water use	Hardy to
alkali sacaton Sporobolus airoides	Grass or grass-like	3 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
black willow Salix nigra	Tree	100 ft	Sun	High	Zone 1b
buffalograss Bouteloua dactyloides	Grass or grass-like	6 in	Sun	Medium	Zone 3b
cane bluestem Bothriochloa barbinodis	Grass or grass-like	4 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 7b
catclaw acacia Senegalia greggii	Tree	20 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 6a
Chickasaw plum Prunus angustifolia	Tree	12 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 4b
cucumberleaf sunflower Helianthus debilis	Wildflower (forb)	6 in	Sun	Medium	Zone 9b
golden crownbeard Verbesina encelioides	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 5a
golden tickseed Coreopsis tinctoria	Wildflower (forb)	3 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 12b
grassleaf rush Juncus marginatus	Grass or grass-like	2 ft	Sun–part shade	Medium	Zone 5a
honey mesquite Prosopis glandulosa	Tree	50 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 6a
inland rush Juncus interior	Grass or grass-like	3 ft	Sun–part shade	Medium	Zone 3b
Malabar sprangletop Leptochloa fusca	Grass or grass-like	3.3 ft	Sun	High	Zone 3a
manyspike flatsedge Cyperus polystachyos	Grass or grass-like	1.6 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 12a
marsh flatsedge Cyperus pseudovegetus	Grass or grass-like	2.5 ft	Sun	High	Zone 8a
Nuttall's povertyweed Monolepis nuttalliana	Wildflower (forb)	10 in	Sun	Medium	Zone 12a
partridge pea Chamaecrista fasciculata	Wildflower (forb)	2.4 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 7a
Pennsylvania smartweed Polygonum pensylvanicum	Wildflower (forb)	3.9 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 10b
purple lovegrass Eragrostis spectabilis	Grass or grass-like	11 in	Sun	Low	Zone 3a
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
sand lovegrass Eragrostis trichodes	Grass or grass-like	3.5 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 5a
shortbristle horned beaksedge Rhynchospora corniculata	Grass or grass-like	6.6 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 6a
sideoats grama Bouteloua curtipendula	Grass or grass-like	3 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
wild tantan Desmanthus virgatus	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Shade-tolerant	Low	Zone 9a

Other native species recorded here 49

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.

annual phlox Phlox drummondii
bearded flatsedge Cyperus squarrosus
camphorweed Heterotheca subaxillaris
carelessweed Amaranthus palmeri
Carolina canarygrass Phalaris caroliniana
Carolina larkspur Delphinium carolinianum
coastal sandbur Cenchrus spinifex
densetuft hairsedge Bulbostylis capillaris
green carpetweed Mollugo verticillata
Guadeloupe cucumber Melothria pendula
hairy pinweed Lechea mucronata
hairy umbrella-sedge Fuirena squarrosa
Heller's rosette grass Dichanthelium oligosanthes
hogwort Croton capitatus
kiss me quick Portulaca pilosa
lanceleaf blanketflower Gaillardia aestivalis
Louisiana vetch Vicia ludoviciana
Madagascar dropseed Sporobolus pyramidatus
marsh bristlegrass Setaria parviflora
narrowleaf stoneseed Lithospermum incisum
pineywoods dropseed Sporobolus junceus
pinkladies Oenothera speciosa
pitseed goosefoot Chenopodium berlandieri
plains snakecotton Froelichia floridana
poorjoe Diodia teres
prickly fanpetals Sida spinosa
purple sandgrass Triplasis purpurea
purple spikerush Eleocharis atropurpurea
queen's-delight Stillingia sylvatica
redseed plantain Plantago rhodosperma
roundseed panicgrass Dichanthelium sphaerocarpon
sand spikerush Eleocharis montevidensis
showy evening primrose Oenothera grandis
sixweeks fescue Vulpia octoflora
sleepy silene Silene antirrhina
slimspike threeawn Aristida longespica
soft goldenaster Chrysopsis pilosa
spiral ditchgrass Ruppia cirrhosa
spotted beebalm Monarda punctata
Texas croton Croton texensis
Texas star Sabatia campestris
Texas vervain Verbena halei
thin paspalum Paspalum setaceum
toothed spurge Euphorbia dentata
tumblegrass Schedonnardus paniculatus
velvetweed Oenothera curtiflora
Virginia pepperweed Lepidium virginicum
western tansymustard Descurainia pinnata
woolly lipfern Cheilanthes tomentosa

Also listed as native and introduced here 3

PLANTS labels these species both native and introduced in this state: some forms are native and others were brought in from elsewhere. Most gardeners should choose plants from the main list.

common pepperweedLepidium densiflorum
Mexican teaDysphania ambrosioides
white sagebrushArtemisia ludoviciana

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, Atascosa County and Texas
Measure	Atascosa County	Typical county	Statewide
Native species	74	145	1,683
Garden-ready natives	25	61	656
Tree	4	—	164
Shrub	0	—	90
Wildflower (forb)	37	—	877
Grass or grass-like	30	—	431
Vine	2	—	83
Fern	1	—	38

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Atascosa County.

Bexar County, TX 107 garden-ready
Frio County, TX 26 garden-ready
Karnes County, TX 78 garden-ready
Live Oak County, TX 29 garden-ready
McMullen County, TX 31 garden-ready
Medina County, TX 47 garden-ready
Wilson County, TX 26 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: Atascosa County (county FIPS 48013), Texas. 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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