Native plants · Texas

Native plants of Baylor County

18 plant species are recorded as native to Texas in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Baylor County by USDA PLANTS. 5 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Baylor County, Texas

PLANTS records only 5 garden-ready natives here (under 30). County records are thin in some places; the Texas list is a useful second check.

Native species: 18 Typical Texas county: 145 (median of 254 counties)
Garden-ready natives: 5 Typical Texas county: 61
Share by type (all 18 native species): Percent of the 18 native species in each growth type

Wildflower (forb) 72% (13)
Grass or grass-like 28% (5)

Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (72%), 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 8a (2023 map).

The native plant list

Garden-ready natives 5

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

Garden-ready native plants of Baylor County, Texas
Plant	Type	Height	Light	Water use	Hardy to
Canadian horseweed Conyza canadensis	Wildflower (forb)	5 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 12b
Carolina foxtail Alopecurus carolinianus	Grass or grass-like	1.7 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3a
longleaf pondweed Potamogeton nodosus	Wildflower (forb)	—	Sun	High	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

Other native species recorded here 13

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 buckwheat Eriogonum annuum
aromatic aster Symphyotrichum oblongifolium
carelessweed Amaranthus palmeri
downy ragged goldenrod Solidago petiolaris
feather fingergrass Chloris virgata
green comet milkweed Asclepias viridiflora
meadow garlic Allium canadense
prairie cupgrass Eriochloa contracta
prairie spiderwort Tradescantia occidentalis
prairie sunflower Helianthus petiolaris
Texas croton Croton texensis
velvety goldenrod Solidago mollis
white heath aster Symphyotrichum ericoides

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, Baylor County and Texas
Measure	Baylor County	Typical county	Statewide
Native species	18	145	1,683
Garden-ready natives	5	61	656
Tree	0	—	164
Shrub	0	—	90
Wildflower (forb)	13	—	877
Grass or grass-like	5	—	431
Vine	0	—	83
Fern	0	—	38

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Baylor County.

Knox County, TX 24 garden-ready
Wichita County, TX 74 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: Baylor County (county FIPS 48023), Texas. 18 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

Independent reference site. No government affiliation or endorsement.