Native plants · Texas

Native plants of Hockley County

69 plant species are recorded as native to Texas in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Hockley County by USDA PLANTS. 23 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Hockley County, Texas

PLANTS records only 23 garden-ready natives here (under 30). County records are thin in some places; the Texas list is a useful second check.

Native species: 69 Typical Texas county: 145 (median of 254 counties)
Garden-ready natives: 23 Typical Texas county: 61
Share by type (all 69 native species): Percent of the 69 native species in each growth type

Tree 1% (1)
Shrub 6% (4)
Wildflower (forb) 65% (45)
Grass or grass-like 26% (18)
Fern 1% (1)

Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (65%), followed by grasses and grass-like plants (26%).

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 23

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

Garden-ready native plants of Hockley County, Texas
Plant	Type	Height	Light	Water use	Hardy to
blue grama Bouteloua gracilis	Grass or grass-like	1 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
broom snakeweed Gutierrezia sarothrae	Shrub	1.5 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3b
Canadian horseweed Conyza canadensis	Wildflower (forb)	5 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 12b
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
lyreleaf greeneyes Berlandiera lyrata	Wildflower (forb)	4 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 5a
Malabar sprangletop Leptochloa fusca	Grass or grass-like	3.3 ft	Sun	High	Zone 3a
needle and thread Hesperostipa comata	Grass or grass-like	3 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
Pennsylvania smartweed Polygonum pensylvanicum	Wildflower (forb)	3.9 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 10b
purple threeawn Aristida purpurea	Grass or grass-like	1.4 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 4a
salt heliotrope Heliotropium curassavicum	Wildflower (forb)	1.2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 4b
saltgrass Distichlis spicata	Grass or grass-like	1.1 ft	Sun	Medium	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
tanseyleaf tansyaster Machaeranthera tanacetifolia	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 4a
Torrey's jointfir Ephedra torreyana	Shrub	1 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 4b
upright prairie coneflower Ratibida columnifera	Wildflower (forb)	3.1 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
vine mesquite Panicum obtusum	Grass or grass-like	2 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 5a
western wheatgrass Pascopyrum smithii	Grass or grass-like	2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
white sagebrush Artemisia ludoviciana	Wildflower (forb)	3 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 4a

Other native species recorded here 46

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.

annual buckwheat Eriogonum annuum
bigbract verbena Verbena bracteata
buffalobur nightshade Solanum rostratum
bushy knotweed Polygonum ramosissimum
camphorweed Heterotheca subaxillaris
carelessweed Amaranthus palmeri
Carolina larkspur Delphinium carolinianum
coastal sandbur Cenchrus spinifex
Cuman ragweed Ambrosia psilostachya
curlytop knotweed Polygonum lapathifolium
Dakota mock vervain Glandularia bipinnatifida
Engelmann's daisy Engelmannia peristenia
false boneset Brickellia eupatorioides
feather fingergrass Chloris virgata
fetid marigold Dyssodia papposa
groundplum milkvetch Astragalus crassicarpus
Hopi tea greenthread Thelesperma megapotamicum
James' cryptantha Cryptantha cinerea
lacy tansyaster Machaeranthera pinnatifida
Madagascar dropseed Sporobolus pyramidatus
matted sandmat Chamaesyce serpens
pony beebalm Monarda pectinata
prairie sandmat Chamaesyce missurica
prairie sunflower Helianthus petiolaris
red lovegrass Eragrostis secundiflora
rough barnyardgrass Echinochloa muricata
sand sagebrush Artemisia filifolia
Schweinitz's flatsedge Cyperus schweinitzii
showy evening primrose Oenothera grandis
silky prairie clover Dalea villosa
silverleaf nightshade Solanum elaeagnifolium
silverscale saltbush Atriplex argentea
slender lipfern Cheilanthes feei
slimflower scurfpea Psoralidium tenuiflorum
sneezeweed Helenium amarum
snow on the mountain Euphorbia marginata
snowball sand verbena Abronia fragrans
southern annual saltmarsh aster Symphyotrichum divaricatum
Spanish gold Grindelia papposa
spotted beebalm Monarda punctata
sunbright Phemeranthus parviflorus
tufted lovegrass Eragrostis pectinacea
tumble windmill grass Chloris verticillata
tumblegrass Schedonnardus paniculatus
verrucose seapurslane Sesuvium verrucosum
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, Hockley County and Texas
Measure	Hockley County	Typical county	Statewide
Native species	69	145	1,683
Garden-ready natives	23	61	656
Tree	1	—	164
Shrub	4	—	90
Wildflower (forb)	45	—	877
Grass or grass-like	18	—	431
Vine	0	—	83
Fern	1	—	38

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Hockley County.

Cochran County, TX 13 garden-ready
Lamb County, TX 43 garden-ready
Lubbock County, TX 82 garden-ready
Terry County, TX 11 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: Hockley County (county FIPS 48219), Texas. 69 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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