Native plants · Texas

Native plants of Hood County

57 plant species are recorded as native to Texas in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Hood County by USDA PLANTS. 21 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Hood County, Texas

PLANTS records only 21 garden-ready natives here (under 30). County records are thin in some places; the Texas list is a useful second check.

Native species: 57 Typical Texas county: 145 (median of 254 counties)
Garden-ready natives: 21 Typical Texas county: 61
Share by type (all 57 native species): Percent of the 57 native species in each growth type

Shrub 5% (3)
Wildflower (forb) 53% (30)
Grass or grass-like 37% (21)
Vine 4% (2)
Fern 2% (1)

Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (53%), followed by grasses and grass-like plants (37%).

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 21

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

Garden-ready native plants of Hood County, Texas
Plant	Type	Height	Light	Water use	Hardy to
buffalograss Bouteloua dactyloides	Grass or grass-like	6 in	Sun	Medium	Zone 3b
butterfly milkweed Asclepias tuberosa	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 4a
Canada wildrye Elymus canadensis	Grass or grass-like	3 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 3a
Canadian horseweed Conyza canadensis	Wildflower (forb)	5 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 12b
composite dropseed Sporobolus compositus	Grass or grass-like	3 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
cylinder jointtail grass Coelorachis cylindrica	Grass or grass-like	3.2 ft	Sun–part shade	Low	Zone 5a
dotted blazing star Liatris punctata	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
eastern woodland sedge Carex blanda	Grass or grass-like	2 ft	Shade-tolerant	High	Zone 4b
giant goldenrod Solidago gigantea	Wildflower (forb)	8.2 ft	Sun–part shade	Medium	Zone 4a
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
Indiangrass Sorghastrum nutans	Grass or grass-like	6 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3b
lanceleaf tickseed Coreopsis lanceolata	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 6b
Mexican muhly Muhlenbergia mexicana	Grass or grass-like	3 ft	Sun–part shade	Medium	Zone 4a
purple threeawn Aristida purpurea	Grass or grass-like	1.4 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 4a
sideoats grama Bouteloua curtipendula	Grass or grass-like	3 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
skunkbush sumac Rhus trilobata	Shrub	4 ft	Sun–part shade	Low	Zone 2a
swamp milkweed Asclepias incarnata	Wildflower (forb)	4.9 ft	Sun	High	Zone 3b
switchgrass Panicum virgatum	Grass or grass-like	5 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
vine mesquite Panicum obtusum	Grass or grass-like	2 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 5a

Other native species recorded here 36

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
annual phlox Phlox drummondii
bearded flatsedge Cyperus squarrosus
camphorweed Heterotheca subaxillaris
carelessweed Amaranthus palmeri
fourpoint evening primrose Oenothera rhombipetala
Geyer's sandmat Chamaesyce geyeri
groovestem Indian plantain Arnoglossum plantagineum
keeled bulrush Isolepis carinata
lemon beebalm Monarda citriodora
Louisiana vetch Vicia ludoviciana
meadow garlic Allium canadense
Michaux's stitchwort Minuartia michauxii
narrowleaf pinweed Lechea tenuifolia
narrowleaf purple coneflower Echinacea angustifolia
plains snakecotton Froelichia floridana
poverty dropseed Sporobolus vaginiflorus
prairie sandmat Chamaesyce missurica
purple cliffbrake Pellaea atropurpurea
rough dropseed Sporobolus clandestinus
silverleaf nightshade Solanum elaeagnifolium
sixweeks fescue Vulpia octoflora
slender snakecotton Froelichia gracilis
southern sandbur Cenchrus echinatus
spinystar Escobaria vivipara
standing-cypress Ipomopsis rubra
stemless Townsend daisy Townsendia exscapa
stretchberry Forestiera pubescens
Texas vervain Verbena halei
tumblegrass Schedonnardus paniculatus
Virginia springbeauty Claytonia virginica
wedgeleaf draba Draba cuneifolia
western horsenettle Solanum dimidiatum
western rough goldenrod Solidago radula
witchgrass Panicum capillare
woolly dutchman's pipe Aristolochia tomentosa

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, Hood County and Texas
Measure	Hood County	Typical county	Statewide
Native species	57	145	1,683
Garden-ready natives	21	61	656
Tree	0	—	164
Shrub	3	—	90
Wildflower (forb)	30	—	877
Grass or grass-like	21	—	431
Vine	2	—	83
Fern	1	—	38

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Hood County.

Erath County, TX 69 garden-ready
Johnson County, TX 38 garden-ready
Palo Pinto County, TX 44 garden-ready
Parker County, TX 93 garden-ready
Somervell County, TX 14 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: Hood County (county FIPS 48221), Texas. 57 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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