Native plants · Texas

Native plants of Live Oak County

93 plant species are recorded as native to Texas in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Live Oak County by USDA PLANTS. 29 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Live Oak County, Texas

PLANTS records only 29 garden-ready natives here (under 30). County records are thin in some places; the Texas list is a useful second check.

Native species: 93 Typical Texas county: 145 (median of 254 counties)
Garden-ready natives: 29 Typical Texas county: 61
Share by type (all 93 native species): Percent of the 93 native species in each growth type

Tree 4% (4)
Shrub 1% (1)
Wildflower (forb) 66% (61)
Grass or grass-like 24% (22)
Vine 5% (5)

Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (66%), followed by grasses and grass-like plants (24%).

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 zones 9a to 9b (2023 map).

The native plant list

Garden-ready natives 29

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

Garden-ready native plants of Live Oak County, Texas
Plant	Type	Height	Light	Water use	Hardy to
black willow Salix nigra	Tree	100 ft	Sun	High	Zone 1b
blackeyed Susan Rudbeckia hirta	Wildflower (forb)	1 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 5a
broom snakeweed Gutierrezia sarothrae	Shrub	1.5 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3b
buffalograss Bouteloua dactyloides	Grass or grass-like	6 in	Sun	Medium	Zone 3b
cane bluestem Bothriochloa barbinodis	Grass or grass-like	4 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 7b
curly-mesquite Hilaria belangeri	Grass or grass-like	10 in	Sun	Low	Zone 8b
dotted blazing star Liatris punctata	Wildflower (forb)	2 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
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
longtom Paspalum denticulatum	Grass or grass-like	2 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 8b
Malabar sprangletop Leptochloa fusca	Grass or grass-like	3.3 ft	Sun	High	Zone 3a
mescal bean Sophora secundiflora	Tree	15 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 8a
plains lovegrass Eragrostis intermedia	Grass or grass-like	2.7 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 5a
purple threeawn Aristida purpurea	Grass or grass-like	1.4 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 4a
redroot flatsedge Cyperus erythrorhizos	Grass or grass-like	2.5 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 11a
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
swamp smartweed Polygonum hydropiperoides	Wildflower (forb)	—	Sun	Medium	Zone 10b
tanglehead Heteropogon contortus	Grass or grass-like	8 in	Sun	Low	Zone 8a
trumpet creeper Campsis radicans	Vine	2 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 6a
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
Virginia wildrye Elymus virginicus	Grass or grass-like	2.5 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 4b
wild tantan Desmanthus virgatus	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Shade-tolerant	Low	Zone 9a

Other native species recorded here 64

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.

American star-thistle Centaurea americana
American wild carrot Daucus pusillus
annual phlox Phlox drummondii
bigseed alfalfa dodder Cuscuta indecora
bluestem pricklypoppy Argemone albiflora
branched foldwing Dicliptera brachiata
bristly scaleseed Spermolepis echinata
camphorweed Heterotheca subaxillaris
carelessweed Amaranthus palmeri
Carolina larkspur Delphinium carolinianum
Carolina woollywhite Hymenopappus scabiosaeus
clasping Venus' looking-glass Triodanis perfoliata
coastal sandbur Cenchrus spinifex
Cuman ragweed Ambrosia psilostachya
curvepod fumewort Corydalis curvisiliqua
Dakota mock vervain Glandularia bipinnatifida
diamond-flowers Stenaria nigricans
Engelmann's daisy Engelmannia peristenia
eyebane Chamaesyce nutans
fetid marigold Dyssodia papposa
fiveangled dodder Cuscuta pentagona
flatspine stickseed Lappula occidentalis
gaping grass Steinchisma hians
grassleaf mudplantain Heteranthera dubia
hairyseed paspalum Paspalum pubiflorum
heartleaf nettle Urtica chamaedryoides
hyssopleaf sandmat Chamaesyce hyssopifolia
lemon beebalm Monarda citriodora
Louisiana vetch Vicia ludoviciana
matted sandmat Chamaesyce serpens
meadow garlic Allium canadense
narrowleaf stoneseed Lithospermum incisum
pasture heliotrope Heliotropium tenellum
Pennsylvania pellitory Parietaria pensylvanica
pink thoroughwort Fleischmannia incarnata
pinkladies Oenothera speciosa
pitseed goosefoot Chenopodium berlandieri
prairie spiderwort Tradescantia occidentalis
prairie tea Croton monanthogynus
redseed plantain Plantago rhodosperma
ribseed sandmat Chamaesyce glyptosperma
sessileleaf ticktrefoil Desmodium sessilifolium
showy evening primrose Oenothera grandis
sixweeks fescue Vulpia octoflora
slender snakecotton Froelichia gracilis
slickseed fuzzybean Strophostyles leiosperma
slim amaranth Amaranthus hybridus
slimspike threeawn Aristida longespica
smallflower fumewort Corydalis micrantha
soft-hair marbleseed Onosmodium bejariense
spotted beebalm Monarda punctata
spotted sandmat Chamaesyce maculata
stemless evening primrose Oenothera triloba
Texas star Sabatia campestris
Texas toadflax Nuttallanthus texanus
Texas vervain Verbena halei
toothed spurge Euphorbia dentata
velvetweed Oenothera curtiflora
Virginia pepperweed Lepidium virginicum
Virginia plantain Plantago virginica
warty spurge Euphorbia spathulata
wedgeleaf draba Draba cuneifolia
western tansymustard Descurainia pinnata
willowleaf aster Symphyotrichum praealtum

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, Live Oak County and Texas
Measure	Live Oak County	Typical county	Statewide
Native species	93	145	1,683
Garden-ready natives	29	61	656
Tree	4	—	164
Shrub	1	—	90
Wildflower (forb)	61	—	877
Grass or grass-like	22	—	431
Vine	5	—	83
Fern	0	—	38

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Live Oak County.

Atascosa County, TX 25 garden-ready
Bee County, TX 25 garden-ready
Jim Wells County, TX 35 garden-ready
Karnes County, TX 78 garden-ready
McMullen County, TX 31 garden-ready
Nueces County, TX 83 garden-ready
San Patricio County, TX 95 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: Live Oak County (county FIPS 48297), Texas. 93 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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