Native plants · Texas

Native plants of Frio County

79 plant species are recorded as native to Texas in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Frio County by USDA PLANTS. 26 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness. 1 more species is listed as both native and introduced and kept in a separate section.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Frio County, Texas

PLANTS records only 26 garden-ready natives here (under 30). County records are thin in some places; the Texas list is a useful second check.

Native species: 79 Typical Texas county: 145 (median of 254 counties)
Garden-ready natives: 26 Typical Texas county: 61
Share by type (all 79 native species): Percent of the 79 native species in each growth type

Tree 6% (5)
Wildflower (forb) 65% (51)
Grass or grass-like 23% (18)
Vine 4% (3)
Fern 3% (2)

Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (65%), followed by grasses and grass-like plants (23%).

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 9a (2023 map).

The native plant list

Garden-ready natives 26

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

Garden-ready native plants of Frio County, Texas
Plant	Type	Height	Light	Water use	Hardy to
Arizona cottontop Digitaria californica	Grass or grass-like	4 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 6a
blackeyed Susan Rudbeckia hirta	Wildflower (forb)	1 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 5a
blackjack oak Quercus marilandica	Tree	25 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 6a
buffalograss Bouteloua dactyloides	Grass or grass-like	6 in	Sun	Medium	Zone 3b
Canadian horseweed Conyza canadensis	Wildflower (forb)	5 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 12b
cane bluestem Bothriochloa barbinodis	Grass or grass-like	4 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 7b
cucumberleaf sunflower Helianthus debilis	Wildflower (forb)	6 in	Sun	Medium	Zone 9b
dotted blazing star Liatris punctata	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
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
honey mesquite Prosopis glandulosa	Tree	50 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 6a
Indian blanket Gaillardia pulchella	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 10b
Indian woodoats Chasmanthium latifolium	Grass or grass-like	4.6 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 4a
littleleaf sumac Rhus microphylla	Tree	10 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 6a
Nuttall's povertyweed Monolepis nuttalliana	Wildflower (forb)	10 in	Sun	Medium	Zone 12a
panicledleaf ticktrefoil Desmodium paniculatum	Wildflower (forb)	3 ft	Sun–part shade	Low	Zone 6a
partridge pea Chamaecrista fasciculata	Wildflower (forb)	2.4 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 7a
purple threeawn Aristida purpurea	Grass or grass-like	1.4 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 4a
sand dropseed Sporobolus cryptandrus	Grass or grass-like	3 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
sugarberry Celtis laevigata	Tree	80 ft	Shade-tolerant	High	Zone 5a
tanglehead Heteropogon contortus	Grass or grass-like	8 in	Sun	Low	Zone 8a
tapertip flatsedge Cyperus acuminatus	Grass or grass-like	1.3 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 3b
turkey tangle fogfruit Phyla nodiflora	Wildflower (forb)	2 in	Sun–part shade	Low	Zone 5b
upright prairie coneflower Ratibida columnifera	Wildflower (forb)	3.1 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
Virginia wildrye Elymus virginicus	Grass or grass-like	2.5 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 4b
wild tantan Desmanthus virgatus	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Shade-tolerant	Low	Zone 9a

Other native species recorded here 53

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 star-thistle Centaurea americana
American wild carrot Daucus pusillus
annual buckwheat Eriogonum annuum
annual phlox Phlox drummondii
blackstem spleenwort Asplenium resiliens
Carolina larkspur Delphinium carolinianum
creeping lovegrass Neeragrostis reptans
crowpoison Nothoscordum bivalve
Cuman ragweed Ambrosia psilostachya
curvepod fumewort Corydalis curvisiliqua
Dakota mock vervain Glandularia bipinnatifida
eastern poison ivy Toxicodendron radicans
Engelmann's daisy Engelmannia peristenia
fiveangled dodder Cuscuta pentagona
flatspine stickseed Lappula occidentalis
great ragweed Ambrosia trifida
gum bully Sideroxylon lanuginosum
hairyfruit chervil Chaerophyllum tainturieri
hairyseed paspalum Paspalum pubiflorum
heartleaf nettle Urtica chamaedryoides
hogwort Croton capitatus
Illinois pondweed Potamogeton illinoensis
kiss me quick Portulaca pilosa
lanceleaf blanketflower Gaillardia aestivalis
Louisiana vetch Vicia ludoviciana
marsh bristlegrass Setaria parviflora
Muhlenberg's sedge Carex muehlenbergii
narrowleaf four o'clock Mirabilis linearis
narrowleaf stoneseed Lithospermum incisum
Pennsylvania pellitory Parietaria pensylvanica
purple cliffbrake Pellaea atropurpurea
red lovegrass Eragrostis secundiflora
redseed plantain Plantago rhodosperma
roughfruit scaleseed Spermolepis divaricata
showy evening primrose Oenothera grandis
silverleaf nightshade Solanum elaeagnifolium
sixweeks fescue Vulpia octoflora
small Venus' looking-glass Triodanis biflora
smallflower fumewort Corydalis micrantha
sneezeweed Helenium amarum
southern annual saltmarsh aster Symphyotrichum divaricatum
spotted beebalm Monarda punctata
Texas vervain Verbena halei
thin paspalum Paspalum setaceum
tufted lovegrass Eragrostis pectinacea
tumblegrass Schedonnardus paniculatus
velvetweed Oenothera curtiflora
Virginia pepperweed Lepidium virginicum
warty spurge Euphorbia spathulata
western tansymustard Descurainia pinnata
white heath aster Symphyotrichum ericoides
whitemouth dayflower Commelina erecta
Wright's plantain Plantago wrightiana

Also listed as native and introduced here 1

PLANTS labels these species both native and introduced in this state: some forms are native and others were brought in from elsewhere. Most gardeners should choose plants from the main list.

common pepperweedLepidium densiflorum

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, Frio County and Texas
Measure	Frio County	Typical county	Statewide
Native species	79	145	1,683
Garden-ready natives	26	61	656
Tree	5	—	164
Shrub	0	—	90
Wildflower (forb)	51	—	877
Grass or grass-like	18	—	431
Vine	3	—	83
Fern	2	—	38

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Frio County.

Atascosa County, TX 25 garden-ready
La Salle County, TX 60 garden-ready
Medina County, TX 47 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: Frio County (county FIPS 48163), Texas. 79 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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