Native plants · Texas

Native plants of Duval County

67 plant species are recorded as native to Texas in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Duval County by USDA PLANTS. 24 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Duval County, Texas

PLANTS records only 24 garden-ready natives here (under 30). County records are thin in some places; the Texas list is a useful second check.

Native species: 67 Typical Texas county: 145 (median of 254 counties)
Garden-ready natives: 24 Typical Texas county: 61
Share by type (all 67 native species): Percent of the 67 native species in each growth type

Tree 4% (3)
Shrub 1% (1)
Wildflower (forb) 66% (44)
Grass or grass-like 24% (16)
Vine 4% (3)

Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (66%), followed by grasses and grass-like plants (24%).

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 9b (2023 map).

The native plant list

Garden-ready natives 24

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

Garden-ready native plants of Duval County, Texas
Plant	Type	Height	Light	Water use	Hardy to
Arizona cottontop Digitaria californica	Grass or grass-like	4 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 6a
fragrant flatsedge Cyperus odoratus	Grass or grass-like	2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 11b
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
green sprangletop Leptochloa dubia	Grass or grass-like	3 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 6a
hairy grama Bouteloua hirsuta	Grass or grass-like	6 in	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
honey mesquite Prosopis glandulosa	Tree	50 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 6a
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
mescal bean Sophora secundiflora	Tree	15 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 8a
Nuttall's povertyweed Monolepis nuttalliana	Wildflower (forb)	10 in	Sun	Medium	Zone 12a
plains lovegrass Eragrostis intermedia	Grass or grass-like	2.7 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 5a
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
roving sailor Maurandella antirrhiniflora	Vine	10 in	Sun	Medium	Zone 6b
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
stalkless yellowcress Rorippa sessiliflora	Wildflower (forb)	1.5 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 12b
sugarberry Celtis laevigata	Tree	80 ft	Shade-tolerant	High	Zone 5a
sweetscent Pluchea odorata	Wildflower (forb)	4.9 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 6a
upright prairie coneflower Ratibida columnifera	Wildflower (forb)	3.1 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
valley redstem Ammannia coccinea	Wildflower (forb)	1.6 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3b
vine mesquite Panicum obtusum	Grass or grass-like	2 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 5a
wild tantan Desmanthus virgatus	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Shade-tolerant	Low	Zone 9a

Other native species recorded here 43

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 wild carrot Daucus pusillus
annual phlox Phlox drummondii
bigseed alfalfa dodder Cuscuta indecora
Carolina ponysfoot Dichondra carolinensis
Carolina woollywhite Hymenopappus scabiosaeus
coastal sandbur Cenchrus spinifex
crested saltbush Atriplex cristata
crowpoison Nothoscordum bivalve
Cuman ragweed Ambrosia psilostachya
Dakota mock vervain Glandularia bipinnatifida
erect spiderling Boerhavia erecta
heartleaf nettle Urtica chamaedryoides
kiss me quick Portulaca pilosa
lemon beebalm Monarda citriodora
Louisiana vetch Vicia ludoviciana
matted sandmat Chamaesyce serpens
narrowleaf stoneseed Lithospermum incisum
neckweed Veronica peregrina
pale spikerush Eleocharis macrostachya
pink thoroughwort Fleischmannia incarnata
pinkladies Oenothera speciosa
pitseed goosefoot Chenopodium berlandieri
prairie tea Croton monanthogynus
ram's horn Proboscidea louisianica
red lovegrass Eragrostis secundiflora
redseed plantain Plantago rhodosperma
ribseed sandmat Chamaesyce glyptosperma
sandhill amaranth Amaranthus arenicola
showy evening primrose Oenothera grandis
silverleaf nightshade Solanum elaeagnifolium
slender snakecotton Froelichia gracilis
smallflower fumewort Corydalis micrantha
spotted beebalm Monarda punctata
Texas bergia Bergia texana
Texas signalgrass Urochloa texana
Texas vervain Verbena halei
thin paspalum Paspalum setaceum
upright burhead Echinodorus berteroi
Vahl's fimbry Fimbristylis vahlii
Virginia pepperweed Lepidium virginicum
western tansymustard Descurainia pinnata
whitemouth dayflower Commelina erecta
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, Duval County and Texas
Measure	Duval County	Typical county	Statewide
Native species	67	145	1,683
Garden-ready natives	24	61	656
Tree	3	—	164
Shrub	1	—	90
Wildflower (forb)	44	—	877
Grass or grass-like	16	—	431
Vine	3	—	83
Fern	0	—	38

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Duval County.

Jim Hogg County, TX 22 garden-ready
Jim Wells County, TX 35 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: Duval County (county FIPS 48131), Texas. 67 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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