Native plants · Texas

Native plants of Hamilton County

80 plant species are recorded as native to Texas in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Hamilton County by USDA PLANTS. 20 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Hamilton County, Texas

PLANTS records only 20 garden-ready natives here (under 30). County records are thin in some places; the Texas list is a useful second check.

Native species: 80 Typical Texas county: 145 (median of 254 counties)
Garden-ready natives: 20 Typical Texas county: 61
Share by type (all 80 native species): Percent of the 80 native species in each growth type

Tree 5% (4)
Shrub 5% (4)
Wildflower (forb) 50% (40)
Grass or grass-like 33% (26)
Vine 1% (1)
Fern 6% (5)

Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (50%), followed by grasses and grass-like plants (33%).

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 20

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

Garden-ready native plants of Hamilton County, Texas
Plant	Type	Height	Light	Water use	Hardy to
American water-willow Justicia americana	Wildflower (forb)	2.5 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 4b
Atlantic camas Camassia scilloides	Wildflower (forb)	2.5 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 4b
cane bluestem Bothriochloa barbinodis	Grass or grass-like	4 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 7b
cockspur hawthorn Crataegus crus-galli	Tree	30 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 4a
common buttonbush Cephalanthus occidentalis	Tree	15 ft	Shade-tolerant	High	Zone 4a
composite dropseed Sporobolus compositus	Grass or grass-like	3 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
desert willow Chilopsis linearis	Tree	25 ft	Sun–part shade	Low	Zone 5a
eastern woodland sedge Carex blanda	Grass or grass-like	2 ft	Shade-tolerant	High	Zone 4b
false indigo bush Amorpha fruticosa	Shrub	15 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
hairy grama Bouteloua hirsuta	Grass or grass-like	6 in	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
Illinois bundleflower Desmanthus illinoensis	Wildflower (forb)	3 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 5b
Indian blanket Gaillardia pulchella	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 10b
little barley Hordeum pusillum	Grass or grass-like	1.2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 10b
narrowleaf blue-eyed grass Sisyrinchium angustifolium	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun–part shade	Medium	Zone 7a
partridge pea Chamaecrista fasciculata	Wildflower (forb)	2.4 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 7a
purpletop tridens Tridens flavus	Grass or grass-like	2.5 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 5a
smooth sumac Rhus glabra	Tree	12 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 4a
upright prairie coneflower Ratibida columnifera	Wildflower (forb)	3.1 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
woolly plantain Plantago patagonica	Wildflower (forb)	6 in	Sun	Low	Zone 12b
yellow flatsedge Cyperus flavescens	Grass or grass-like	2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 11b

Other native species recorded here 60

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.

Alabama lipfern Cheilanthes alabamensis
beaked cornsalad Valerianella radiata
bearded flatsedge Cyperus squarrosus
bighead pygmycudweed Evax prolifera
blackfoot quillwort Isoetes melanopoda
bristly scaleseed Spermolepis echinata
Carolina canarygrass Phalaris caroliniana
Carolina draba Draba reptans
Carolina leaf-flower Phyllanthus caroliniensis
Carolina woollywhite Hymenopappus scabiosaeus
clasping Venus' looking-glass Triodanis perfoliata
creeping burhead Echinodorus cordifolius
Cuman ragweed Ambrosia psilostachya
Dakota mock vervain Glandularia bipinnatifida
diamond-flowers Stenaria nigricans
fragrant sumac Rhus aromatica
green comet milkweed Asclepias viridiflora
groovestem Indian plantain Arnoglossum plantagineum
hairy fimbry Fimbristylis puberula
hairy woodland brome Bromus pubescens
hairyfruit chervil Chaerophyllum tainturieri
heavy sedge Carex gravida
Heller's rosette grass Dichanthelium oligosanthes
Jersey tea Ceanothus herbaceus
juniper leaf Polypremum procumbens
largeseed forget-me-not Myosotis macrosperma
lemon beebalm Monarda citriodora
limestone adderstongue Ophioglossum engelmannii
Louisiana vetch Vicia ludoviciana
Maximilian sunflower Helianthus maximiliani
Michaux's stitchwort Minuartia michauxii
mucronate sprangletop Leptochloa panicea
Muhlenberg's sedge Carex muehlenbergii
narrowleaf gumweed Grindelia lanceolata
narrowleaf stoneseed Lithospermum incisum
plains snakecotton Froelichia floridana
poverty dropseed Sporobolus vaginiflorus
prairie broomweed Amphiachyris dracunculoides
prairie spiderwort Tradescantia occidentalis
purple cliffbrake Pellaea atropurpurea
Red River scaleseed Spermolepis inermis
ribseed sandmat Chamaesyce glyptosperma
rock muhly Muhlenbergia sobolifera
rough dropseed Sporobolus clandestinus
sand spikerush Eleocharis montevidensis
sandhill amaranth Amaranthus arenicola
sixweeks fescue Vulpia octoflora
slender lipfern Cheilanthes feei
spinystar Escobaria vivipara
standing-cypress Ipomopsis rubra
stemless Townsend daisy Townsendia exscapa
tapered rosette grass Dichanthelium acuminatum
Texas bluegrass Poa arachnifera
Texas signalgrass Urochloa texana
threeflower melicgrass Melica nitens
tufted lovegrass Eragrostis pectinacea
tumble windmill grass Chloris verticillata
upright burhead Echinodorus berteroi
warty spurge Euphorbia spathulata
western horsenettle Solanum dimidiatum

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, Hamilton County and Texas
Measure	Hamilton County	Typical county	Statewide
Native species	80	145	1,683
Garden-ready natives	20	61	656
Tree	4	—	164
Shrub	4	—	90
Wildflower (forb)	40	—	877
Grass or grass-like	26	—	431
Vine	1	—	83
Fern	5	—	38

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Hamilton County.

Bosque County, TX 29 garden-ready
Comanche County, TX 44 garden-ready
Coryell County, TX 50 garden-ready
Erath County, TX 69 garden-ready
Lampasas County, TX 43 garden-ready
Mills County, TX 27 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: Hamilton County (county FIPS 48193), Texas. 80 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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