Native plants · Texas

Native plants of Franklin County

70 plant species are recorded as native to Texas in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Franklin County by USDA PLANTS. 33 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Franklin County, Texas

Native species: 70 Typical Texas county: 145 (median of 254 counties)
Garden-ready natives: 33 Typical Texas county: 61
Share by type (all 70 native species): Percent of the 70 native species in each growth type

Tree 3% (2)
Wildflower (forb) 41% (29)
Grass or grass-like 44% (31)
Vine 9% (6)
Fern 3% (2)

Grasses and grass-like plants make up the largest share of the native list (44%), followed by wildflowers (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 8b (2023 map).

The native plant list

Garden-ready natives 33

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

Garden-ready native plants of Franklin County, Texas
Plant	Type	Height	Light	Water use	Hardy to
American holly Ilex opaca	Tree	40 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 5a
Bush's sedge Carex bushii	Grass or grass-like	2 ft	Sun–part shade	Medium	Zone 5a
Canadian lousewort Pedicularis canadensis	Wildflower (forb)	1.3 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 3a
cardinalflower Lobelia cardinalis	Wildflower (forb)	5.9 ft	Shade-tolerant	Low	Zone 4a
cattail sedge Carex typhina	Grass or grass-like	2 ft	Shade-tolerant	High	Zone 4b
common goldstar Hypoxis hirsuta	Wildflower (forb)	10 in	Sun–part shade	Medium	Zone 4a
dotted smartweed Polygonum punctatum	Wildflower (forb)	3.2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 10b
eastern narrowleaf sedge Carex amphibola	Grass or grass-like	2 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 7a
eastern redcedar Juniperus virginiana	Tree	50 ft	Sun–part shade	Low	Zone 3a
fox sedge Carex vulpinoidea	Grass or grass-like	3.2 ft	Sun–part shade	Medium	Zone 3b
foxglove beardtongue Penstemon digitalis	Wildflower (forb)	4 ft	Shade-tolerant	Low	Zone 3b
fragrant flatsedge Cyperus odoratus	Grass or grass-like	2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 11b
golden tickseed Coreopsis tinctoria	Wildflower (forb)	3 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 12b
greater bladder sedge Carex intumescens	Grass or grass-like	3 ft	Shade-tolerant	High	Zone 4a
green bulrush Scirpus atrovirens	Grass or grass-like	5.9 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 2a
greenwhite sedge Carex albolutescens	Grass or grass-like	3.9 ft	Sun–part shade	Medium	Zone 3b
hop sedge Carex lupulina	Grass or grass-like	4.3 ft	Sun–part shade	Medium	Zone 3b
limestone wild petunia Ruellia strepens	Wildflower (forb)	3.6 ft	Shade-tolerant	Low	Zone 6a
little bluestem Schizachyrium scoparium	Grass or grass-like	3 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
needleleaf rosette grass Dichanthelium aciculare	Grass or grass-like	1.6 ft	Sun–part shade	Low	Zone 7b
panicledleaf ticktrefoil Desmodium paniculatum	Wildflower (forb)	3 ft	Sun–part shade	Low	Zone 6a
Pennsylvania smartweed Polygonum pensylvanicum	Wildflower (forb)	3.9 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 10b
plains lovegrass Eragrostis intermedia	Grass or grass-like	2.7 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 5a
purplestem aster Symphyotrichum puniceum	Wildflower (forb)	8.1 ft	Sun	High	Zone 3b
ravenfoot sedge Carex crus-corvi	Grass or grass-like	3 ft	Sun–part shade	Medium	Zone 4b
redroot flatsedge Cyperus erythrorhizos	Grass or grass-like	2.5 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 11a
redtop panicgrass Panicum rigidulum	Grass or grass-like	3.3 ft	Sun	High	Zone 4a
shoreline sedge Carex hyalinolepis	Grass or grass-like	4 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 4b
shortbeard plumegrass Saccharum brevibarbe	Grass or grass-like	6.5 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 6b
splitbeard bluestem Andropogon ternarius	Grass or grass-like	3.9 ft	Shade-tolerant	Low	Zone 5b
Torrey's rush Juncus torreyi	Grass or grass-like	3.1 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3b
trumpet honeysuckle Lonicera sempervirens	Vine	16 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 4a
winter bentgrass Agrostis hyemalis	Grass or grass-like	3.5 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 4a

Other native species recorded here 37

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.

amberique-bean Strophostyles helvola
American ipecac Gillenia stipulata
buttonbush dodder Cuscuta cephalanthi
Carolina canarygrass Phalaris caroliniana
Christmas fern Polystichum acrostichoides
clammy hedgehyssop Gratiola neglecta
eastern fox sedge Carex triangularis
ebony spleenwort Asplenium platyneuron
fescue sedge Carex festucacea
floating mannagrass Glyceria septentrionalis
golden zizia Zizia aurea
hairy forked nailwort Paronychia fastigiata
hairy pinweed Lechea mucronata
kidneyshape sedge Carex reniformis
lateflowering thoroughwort Eupatorium serotinum
narrowleaf pinweed Lechea tenuifolia
neckweed Veronica peregrina
Pickering's dawnflower Stylisma pickeringii
plains snakecotton Froelichia floridana
poorjoe Diodia teres
poverty dropseed Sporobolus vaginiflorus
poverty oatgrass Danthonia spicata
purple sandgrass Triplasis purpurea
redring milkweed Asclepias variegata
roundseed panicgrass Dichanthelium sphaerocarpon
scaldweed Cuscuta gronovii
seedbox Ludwigia alternifolia
slender lespedeza Lespedeza virginica
slenderleaf false foxglove Agalinis tenuifolia
spring coralroot Corallorhiza wisteriana
spring forget-me-not Myosotis verna
tapered rosette grass Dichanthelium acuminatum
Virginia winged rockcress Sibara virginica
white crownbeard Verbesina virginica
white vervain Verbena urticifolia
whitestar Ipomoea lacunosa
yellow spikerush Eleocharis flavescens

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, Franklin County and Texas
Measure	Franklin County	Typical county	Statewide
Native species	70	145	1,683
Garden-ready natives	33	61	656
Tree	2	—	164
Shrub	0	—	90
Wildflower (forb)	29	—	877
Grass or grass-like	31	—	431
Vine	6	—	83
Fern	2	—	38

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Franklin County.

Hopkins County, TX 48 garden-ready
Titus County, TX 78 garden-ready
Wood County, TX 168 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: Franklin County (county FIPS 48159), Texas. 70 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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