Native plants · Texas
Native plants of Kent County
31 plant species are recorded as native to Texas in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Kent County by USDA PLANTS. 12 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness. 2 more species are listed as both native and introduced and kept in a separate section.
County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP
Kent County, Texas
PLANTS records only 12 garden-ready natives here (under 30). County records are thin in some places; the Texas list is a useful second check.
- Native species
- 31 Typical Texas county: 145 (median of 254 counties)
- Garden-ready natives
- 12 Typical Texas county: 61
- Share by type (all 31 native species)
-
Percent of the 31 native species in each growth type
Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (65%), followed by grasses and grass-like plants (26%).
The native plant list
Garden-ready natives 12
Native species with PLANTS growing records (height, light, moisture, minimum temperature). “—” means PLANTS has no value.
| Plant | Type | Height | Light | Water use | Hardy to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| black grama Bouteloua eriopoda | Grass or grass-like | 2 ft | Sun | Low | Zone 5a |
| common maidenhair Adiantum capillus-veneris | Fern | 1.7 ft | Shade-tolerant | High | Zone 4a |
| hairy grama Bouteloua hirsuta | Grass or grass-like | 6 in | Sun | Low | Zone 3b |
| 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 |
| purple poppymallow Callirhoe involucrata | Wildflower (forb) | 1 ft | Sun | Medium | Zone 3b |
| 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 |
| tobosagrass Pleuraphis mutica | Grass or grass-like | 2.3 ft | Sun | Low | Zone 7b |
| upright prairie coneflower Ratibida columnifera | Wildflower (forb) | 3.1 ft | Sun | Medium | Zone 3a |
| white prairie clover Dalea candida | Wildflower (forb) | 2 ft | Sun–part shade | Medium | Zone 3b |
| whitethorn acacia Vachellia constricta | Tree | 9 ft | Sun | Low | Zone 6a |
No garden-ready natives match these filters. Try clearing one.
Other native species recorded here 19
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.
Hidden while “Garden-ready only” is on.
- American star-thistle Centaurea americana
- annual buckwheat Eriogonum annuum
- annual phlox Phlox drummondii
- Carolina canarygrass Phalaris caroliniana
- Carolina larkspur Delphinium carolinianum
- fourpoint evening primrose Oenothera rhombipetala
- Fremont's goosefoot Chenopodium fremontii
- Hopi tea greenthread Thelesperma megapotamicum
- lemon beebalm Monarda citriodora
- prairie spiderwort Tradescantia occidentalis
- redseed plantain Plantago rhodosperma
- ribseed sandmat Chamaesyce glyptosperma
- silky prairie clover Dalea villosa
- snowball sand verbena Abronia fragrans
- spinystar Escobaria vivipara
- spotted beebalm Monarda punctata
- thin paspalum Paspalum setaceum
- warty spurge Euphorbia spathulata
- winged pigweed Cycloloma atriplicifolium
Also listed as native and introduced here 2
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.
- Mexican teaDysphania ambrosioides
- white sagebrushArtemisia ludoviciana
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.
| Measure | Kent County | Typical county | Statewide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Native species | 31 | 145 | 1,683 |
| Garden-ready natives | 12 | 61 | 656 |
| Tree | 1 | — | 164 |
| Shrub | 1 | — | 90 |
| Wildflower (forb) | 20 | — | 877 |
| Grass or grass-like | 8 | — | 431 |
| Vine | 0 | — | 83 |
| Fern | 1 | — | 38 |
Neighboring counties
Counties that share a ZIP code with Kent County.
- Dickens County, TX 50 garden-ready
- Scurry County, TX 31 garden-ready
- Stonewall 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
- Kent County (county FIPS 48263), Texas. 31 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