Native plants · Texas

Native plants of Castro County

65 plant species are recorded as native to Texas in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Castro County by USDA PLANTS. 30 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Castro County, Texas

Native species: 65 Typical Texas county: 145 (median of 254 counties)
Garden-ready natives: 30 Typical Texas county: 61
Share by type (all 65 native species): Percent of the 65 native species in each growth type

Tree 2% (1)
Shrub 2% (1)
Wildflower (forb) 66% (43)
Grass or grass-like 31% (20)

Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (66%), followed by grasses and grass-like plants (31%).

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 7a (2023 map).

The native plant list

Garden-ready natives 30

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

Garden-ready native plants of Castro County, Texas
Plant	Type	Height	Light	Water use	Hardy to
alkali buttercup Ranunculus cymbalaria	Wildflower (forb)	1 ft	Shade-tolerant	High	Zone 3b
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
Canadian horseweed Conyza canadensis	Wildflower (forb)	5 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 12b
cursed buttercup Ranunculus sceleratus	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Shade-tolerant	High	Zone 12b
disk waterhyssop Bacopa rotundifolia	Wildflower (forb)	1 in	Sun	High	Zone 4a
golden crownbeard Verbesina encelioides	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 5a
green prairie coneflower Ratibida tagetes	Wildflower (forb)	1 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 4b
hairy grama Bouteloua hirsuta	Grass or grass-like	6 in	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
hardstem bulrush Schoenoplectus acutus	Grass or grass-like	9.8 ft	Sun	High	Zone 3b
little barley Hordeum pusillum	Grass or grass-like	1.2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 10b
little bluestem Schizachyrium scoparium	Grass or grass-like	3 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
longbeak buttercup Ranunculus longirostris	Wildflower (forb)	1 ft	Shade-tolerant	High	Zone 4b
longleaf pondweed Potamogeton nodosus	Wildflower (forb)	—	Sun	High	Zone 3b
lyreleaf greeneyes Berlandiera lyrata	Wildflower (forb)	4 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 5a
Malabar sprangletop Leptochloa fusca	Grass or grass-like	3.3 ft	Sun	High	Zone 3a
narrowleaf willow Salix exigua	Tree	10 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 3b
Pennsylvania smartweed Polygonum pensylvanicum	Wildflower (forb)	3.9 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 10b
poverty threeawn Aristida divaricata	Grass or grass-like	1.3 ft	Sun–part shade	Low	Zone 6b
purple threeawn Aristida purpurea	Grass or grass-like	1.4 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 4a
roughfruit amaranth Amaranthus tuberculatus	Wildflower (forb)	6.6 ft	Sun	High	Zone 4a
sago pondweed Stuckenia pectinata	Wildflower (forb)	—	Sun	High	Zone 3b
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
softstem bulrush Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani	Grass or grass-like	9 ft	Sun	High	Zone 3b
spreading yellowcress Rorippa sinuata	Wildflower (forb)	1 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3b
upright prairie coneflower Ratibida columnifera	Wildflower (forb)	3.1 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
vine mesquite Panicum obtusum	Grass or grass-like	2 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 5a
woolly locoweed Astragalus mollissimus	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 4b

Other native species recorded here 35

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.

bigbract verbena Verbena bracteata
brook cinquefoil Potentilla rivalis
buffalobur nightshade Solanum rostratum
curlytop knotweed Polygonum lapathifolium
Dakota mock vervain Glandularia bipinnatifida
Engelmann's daisy Engelmannia peristenia
false buffalograss Munroa squarrosa
feather fingergrass Chloris virgata
Hopi tea greenthread Thelesperma megapotamicum
lacy tansyaster Machaeranthera pinnatifida
lanceleaf sage Salvia reflexa
mat sandbur Cenchrus longispinus
mealy goosefoot Chenopodium incanum
narrowleaf four o'clock Mirabilis linearis
narrowleaf stoneseed Lithospermum incisum
pale spikerush Eleocharis macrostachya
ram's horn Proboscidea louisianica
red lovegrass Eragrostis secundiflora
sandhill amaranth Amaranthus arenicola
scarlet beeblossom Oenothera suffrutescens
silverleaf nightshade Solanum elaeagnifolium
slender snakecotton Froelichia gracilis
slimflower scurfpea Psoralidium tenuiflorum
snow on the mountain Euphorbia marginata
southern annual saltmarsh aster Symphyotrichum divaricatum
southern cattail Typha domingensis
stemless evening primrose Oenothera triloba
tufted lovegrass Eragrostis pectinacea
tumblegrass Schedonnardus paniculatus
velvetweed Oenothera curtiflora
warty caltrop Kallstroemia parviflora
wedgeleaf Phyla cuneifolia
western wallflower Erysimum asperum
white heath aster Symphyotrichum ericoides
witchgrass Panicum capillare

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, Castro County and Texas
Measure	Castro County	Typical county	Statewide
Native species	65	145	1,683
Garden-ready natives	30	61	656
Tree	1	—	164
Shrub	1	—	90
Wildflower (forb)	43	—	877
Grass or grass-like	20	—	431
Vine	0	—	83
Fern	0	—	38

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Castro County.

Bailey County, TX 70 garden-ready
Deaf Smith County, TX 87 garden-ready
Hale County, TX 24 garden-ready
Lamb County, TX 43 garden-ready
Randall County, TX 114 garden-ready
Swisher County, TX 29 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: Castro County (county FIPS 48069), Texas. 65 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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