Native plants · Texas

Native plants of Cochran County

35 plant species are recorded as native to Texas in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Cochran County by USDA PLANTS. 13 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Cochran County, Texas

PLANTS records only 13 garden-ready natives here (under 30). County records are thin in some places; the Texas list is a useful second check.

Native species: 35 Typical Texas county: 145 (median of 254 counties)
Garden-ready natives: 13 Typical Texas county: 61
Share by type (all 35 native species): Percent of the 35 native species in each growth type

Shrub 3% (1)
Wildflower (forb) 57% (20)
Grass or grass-like 40% (14)

Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (57%), followed by grasses and grass-like plants (40%).

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 7b (2023 map).

The native plant list

Garden-ready natives 13

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

Garden-ready native plants of Cochran County, Texas
Plant	Type	Height	Light	Water use	Hardy to
big bluestem Andropogon gerardii	Grass or grass-like	6 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 2b
dotted blazing star Liatris punctata	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
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
Indian blanket Gaillardia pulchella	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 10b
little bluestem Schizachyrium scoparium	Grass or grass-like	3 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
lyreleaf greeneyes Berlandiera lyrata	Wildflower (forb)	4 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 5a
needle and thread Hesperostipa comata	Grass or grass-like	3 ft	Sun	Low	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
soapweed yucca Yucca glauca	Shrub	1 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 4b
squirreltail Elymus elymoides	Grass or grass-like	1.5 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3a

Other native species recorded here 22

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
coastal sandbur Cenchrus spinifex
Engelmann's daisy Engelmannia peristenia
false buffalograss Munroa squarrosa
groundplum milkvetch Astragalus crassicarpus
James' cryptantha Cryptantha cinerea
matted sandmat Chamaesyce serpens
narrowleaf stoneseed Lithospermum incisum
pale spikerush Eleocharis macrostachya
pony beebalm Monarda pectinata
purple sandgrass Triplasis purpurea
sandhill amaranth Amaranthus arenicola
scarlet beeblossom Oenothera suffrutescens
Schweinitz's flatsedge Cyperus schweinitzii
shaggy dwarf morning-glory Evolvulus nuttallianus
tarragon Artemisia dracunculus
thin paspalum Paspalum setaceum
Virginia pepperweed Lepidium virginicum
western tansymustard Descurainia pinnata
whitest evening primrose Oenothera albicaulis
winged pigweed Cycloloma atriplicifolium
Wright's plantain Plantago wrightiana

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, Cochran County and Texas
Measure	Cochran County	Typical county	Statewide
Native species	35	145	1,683
Garden-ready natives	13	61	656
Tree	0	—	164
Shrub	1	—	90
Wildflower (forb)	20	—	877
Grass or grass-like	14	—	431
Vine	0	—	83
Fern	0	—	38

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Cochran County.

Bailey County, TX 70 garden-ready
Hockley County, TX 23 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: Cochran County (county FIPS 48079), Texas. 35 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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