Native plants · Texas

Native plants of Howard County

72 plant species are recorded as native to Texas in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Howard County by USDA PLANTS. 32 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Howard County, Texas

Native species: 72 Typical Texas county: 145 (median of 254 counties)
Garden-ready natives: 32 Typical Texas county: 61
Share by type (all 72 native species): Percent of the 72 native species in each growth type

Tree 4% (3)
Shrub 11% (8)
Wildflower (forb) 51% (37)
Grass or grass-like 28% (20)
Vine 1% (1)
Fern 4% (3)

Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (51%), followed by grasses and grass-like plants (28%).

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 8a (2023 map).

The native plant list

Garden-ready natives 32

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

Garden-ready native plants of Howard County, Texas
Plant	Type	Height	Light	Water use	Hardy to
American tarwort Flourensia cernua	Shrub	3 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 5a
black grama Bouteloua eriopoda	Grass or grass-like	2 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 5a
Canada wildrye Elymus canadensis	Grass or grass-like	3 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 3a
creeping muhly Muhlenbergia repens	Grass or grass-like	1 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 9a
creosote bush Larrea tridentata	Shrub	10 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 5a
dotted blazing star Liatris punctata	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
featherplume Dalea formosa	Shrub	3 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 6a
fourwing saltbush Atriplex canescens	Shrub	4 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
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
honey mesquite Prosopis glandulosa	Tree	50 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 6a
Indian blanket Gaillardia pulchella	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 10b
lemonscent Pectis angustifolia	Wildflower (forb)	8 in	Sun	Low	Zone 5a
little barley Hordeum pusillum	Grass or grass-like	1.2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 10b
little bluestem Schizachyrium scoparium	Grass or grass-like	3 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
littleleaf sumac Rhus microphylla	Tree	10 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 6a
lyreleaf greeneyes Berlandiera lyrata	Wildflower (forb)	4 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 5a
meadow barley Hordeum brachyantherum	Grass or grass-like	2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
needle and thread Hesperostipa comata	Grass or grass-like	3 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
Nuttall's povertyweed Monolepis nuttalliana	Wildflower (forb)	10 in	Sun	Medium	Zone 12a
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
scarlet globemallow Sphaeralcea coccinea	Wildflower (forb)	1.5 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 5a
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
squirreltail Elymus elymoides	Grass or grass-like	1.5 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3a
tanseyleaf tansyaster Machaeranthera tanacetifolia	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 4a
tobosagrass Pleuraphis mutica	Grass or grass-like	2.3 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 7b
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
whitethorn acacia Vachellia constricta	Tree	9 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 6a
woolly locoweed Astragalus mollissimus	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 4b

Other native species recorded here 40

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
American star-thistle Centaurea americana
American wild carrot Daucus pusillus
annual buckwheat Eriogonum annuum
bristly scaleseed Spermolepis echinata
Carolina canarygrass Phalaris caroliniana
Engelmann's daisy Engelmannia peristenia
fiveangled dodder Cuscuta pentagona
flatspine stickseed Lappula occidentalis
Fremont's goosefoot Chenopodium fremontii
hairyfruit chervil Chaerophyllum tainturieri
James' cryptantha Cryptantha cinerea
lacy tansyaster Machaeranthera pinnatifida
mealy goosefoot Chenopodium incanum
Michaux's stitchwort Minuartia michauxii
narrowleaf four o'clock Mirabilis linearis
narrowleaf stoneseed Lithospermum incisum
pinkladies Oenothera speciosa
prairie broomweed Amphiachyris dracunculoides
purple cliffbrake Pellaea atropurpurea
redseed plantain Plantago rhodosperma
sand sagebrush Artemisia filifolia
shaggy dwarf morning-glory Evolvulus nuttallianus
sixweeks threeawn Aristida adscensionis
slender lipfern Cheilanthes feei
slender snakecotton Froelichia gracilis
slimflower scurfpea Psoralidium tenuiflorum
snowball sand verbena Abronia fragrans
Spanish gold Grindelia papposa
spinystar Escobaria vivipara
Texas signalgrass Urochloa texana
threeflower melicgrass Melica nitens
tumble windmill grass Chloris verticillata
Vahl's fimbry Fimbristylis vahlii
verrucose seapurslane Sesuvium verrucosum
warty caltrop Kallstroemia parviflora
warty spurge Euphorbia spathulata
wedgeleaf Phyla cuneifolia
western tansymustard Descurainia pinnata
white heath aster Symphyotrichum ericoides

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, Howard County and Texas
Measure	Howard County	Typical county	Statewide
Native species	72	145	1,683
Garden-ready natives	32	61	656
Tree	3	—	164
Shrub	8	—	90
Wildflower (forb)	37	—	877
Grass or grass-like	20	—	431
Vine	1	—	83
Fern	3	—	38

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Howard County.

Borden County, TX 13 garden-ready
Glasscock County, TX 8 garden-ready
Martin County, TX 19 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: Howard County (county FIPS 48227), Texas. 72 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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