Native plants · Texas

Native plants of Mitchell County

61 plant species are recorded as native to Texas in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Mitchell County by USDA PLANTS. 30 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness. 1 more species is listed as both native and introduced and kept in a separate section.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Mitchell County, Texas

Native species: 61 Typical Texas county: 145 (median of 254 counties)
Garden-ready natives: 30 Typical Texas county: 61
Share by type (all 61 native species): Percent of the 61 native species in each growth type

Tree 7% (4)
Shrub 7% (4)
Wildflower (forb) 54% (33)
Grass or grass-like 25% (15)
Vine 2% (1)
Fern 7% (4)

Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (54%), followed by grasses and grass-like plants (25%).

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 30

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

Garden-ready native plants of Mitchell County, Texas
Plant	Type	Height	Light	Water use	Hardy to
American tarwort Flourensia cernua	Shrub	3 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 5a
Arizona cottontop Digitaria californica	Grass or grass-like	4 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 6a
big bluestem Andropogon gerardii	Grass or grass-like	6 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 2b
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
cane bluestem Bothriochloa barbinodis	Grass or grass-like	4 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 7b
Chickasaw plum Prunus angustifolia	Tree	12 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 4b
common maidenhair Adiantum capillus-veneris	Fern	1.7 ft	Shade-tolerant	High	Zone 4a
composite dropseed Sporobolus compositus	Grass or grass-like	3 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
dotted blazing star Liatris punctata	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
eastern redbud Cercis canadensis	Tree	30 ft	Shade-tolerant	Low	Zone 4b
featherplume Dalea formosa	Shrub	3 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 6a
fourwing saltbush Atriplex canescens	Shrub	4 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
golden tickseed Coreopsis tinctoria	Wildflower (forb)	3 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 12b
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
Illinois bundleflower Desmanthus illinoensis	Wildflower (forb)	3 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 5b
littleleaf sumac Rhus microphylla	Tree	10 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 6a
longleaf pondweed Potamogeton nodosus	Wildflower (forb)	—	Sun	High	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
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
squirreltail Elymus elymoides	Grass or grass-like	1.5 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3a
switchgrass Panicum virgatum	Grass or grass-like	5 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
tobosagrass Pleuraphis mutica	Grass or grass-like	2.3 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 7b
turkey tangle fogfruit Phyla nodiflora	Wildflower (forb)	2 in	Sun–part shade	Low	Zone 5b
white prairie clover Dalea candida	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun–part shade	Medium	Zone 3b
woolly locoweed Astragalus mollissimus	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 4b

Other native species recorded here 31

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
bluejacket Tradescantia ohiensis
buffalobur nightshade Solanum rostratum
chickenthief Mentzelia oligosperma
curvepod fumewort Corydalis curvisiliqua
false boneset Brickellia eupatorioides
false buffalograss Munroa squarrosa
hairy waterclover Marsilea vestita
Hopi tea greenthread Thelesperma megapotamicum
James' cryptantha Cryptantha cinerea
lacy tansyaster Machaeranthera pinnatifida
lanceleaf sage Salvia reflexa
lemon beebalm Monarda citriodora
Louisiana vetch Vicia ludoviciana
mealy goosefoot Chenopodium incanum
plains snakecotton Froelichia floridana
pony beebalm Monarda pectinata
prairie broomweed Amphiachyris dracunculoides
purple cliffbrake Pellaea atropurpurea
rough barnyardgrass Echinochloa muricata
sandhill amaranth Amaranthus arenicola
shaggy dwarf morning-glory Evolvulus nuttallianus
silverscale saltbush Atriplex argentea
slender snakecotton Froelichia gracilis
small pondweed Potamogeton pusillus
Texas croton Croton texensis
warty caltrop Kallstroemia parviflora
warty spurge Euphorbia spathulata
winged pigweed Cycloloma atriplicifolium
woolly lipfern Cheilanthes tomentosa
woolly tidestromia Tidestromia lanuginosa

Also listed as native and introduced here 1

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.

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.

Native species counts, Mitchell County and Texas
Measure	Mitchell County	Typical county	Statewide
Native species	61	145	1,683
Garden-ready natives	30	61	656
Tree	4	—	164
Shrub	4	—	90
Wildflower (forb)	33	—	877
Grass or grass-like	15	—	431
Vine	1	—	83
Fern	4	—	38

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Mitchell County.

Nolan County, TX 22 garden-ready
Scurry County, TX 31 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: Mitchell County (county FIPS 48335), Texas. 61 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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