Native plants · Texas

Native plants of Moore County

70 plant species are recorded as native to Texas in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Moore County by USDA PLANTS. 28 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

Moore County, Texas

PLANTS records only 28 garden-ready natives here (under 30). County records are thin in some places; the Texas list is a useful second check.

Native species: 70 Typical Texas county: 145 (median of 254 counties)
Garden-ready natives: 28 Typical Texas county: 61
Share by type (all 70 native species): Percent of the 70 native species in each growth type

Tree 1% (1)
Shrub 7% (5)
Wildflower (forb) 61% (43)
Grass or grass-like 26% (18)
Vine 3% (2)
Fern 1% (1)

Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (61%), followed by grasses and grass-like plants (26%).

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 7a (2023 map).

The native plant list

Garden-ready natives 28

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

Garden-ready native plants of Moore County, Texas
Plant	Type	Height	Light	Water use	Hardy to
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
blue grama Bouteloua gracilis	Grass or grass-like	1 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
broom snakeweed Gutierrezia sarothrae	Shrub	1.5 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3b
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
cloaked bulrush Scirpus pallidus	Grass or grass-like	5 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3b
eastern cottonwood Populus deltoides	Tree	190 ft	Sun	High	Zone 3a
featherplume Dalea formosa	Shrub	3 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 6a
green prairie coneflower Ratibida tagetes	Wildflower (forb)	1 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 4b
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
lyreleaf greeneyes Berlandiera lyrata	Wildflower (forb)	4 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 5a
Nuttall's povertyweed Monolepis nuttalliana	Wildflower (forb)	10 in	Sun	Medium	Zone 12a
Pennsylvania smartweed Polygonum pensylvanicum	Wildflower (forb)	3.9 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 10b
purple locoweed Oxytropis lambertii	Wildflower (forb)	1.4 ft	Sun	Low	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
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
skunkbush sumac Rhus trilobata	Shrub	4 ft	Sun–part shade	Low	Zone 2a
spreading yellowcress Rorippa sinuata	Wildflower (forb)	1 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3b
switchgrass Panicum virgatum	Grass or grass-like	5 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
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
vine mesquite Panicum obtusum	Grass or grass-like	2 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 5a
western wheatgrass Pascopyrum smithii	Grass or grass-like	2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
woolly plantain Plantago patagonica	Wildflower (forb)	6 in	Sun	Low	Zone 12b

Other native species recorded here 42

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.

bastard toadflax Comandra umbellata
bigbract verbena Verbena bracteata
buffalobur nightshade Solanum rostratum
bushy knotweed Polygonum ramosissimum
carelessweed Amaranthus palmeri
curlytop knotweed Polygonum lapathifolium
cusp dodder Cuscuta cuspidata
Dakota mock vervain Glandularia bipinnatifida
diamond-flowers Stenaria nigricans
Engelmann's daisy Engelmannia peristenia
false boneset Brickellia eupatorioides
feather fingergrass Chloris virgata
fetid marigold Dyssodia papposa
groundplum milkvetch Astragalus crassicarpus
hairy waterclover Marsilea vestita
Hopi tea greenthread Thelesperma megapotamicum
James' cryptantha Cryptantha cinerea
lacy tansyaster Machaeranthera pinnatifida
mat sandbur Cenchrus longispinus
narrowleaf four o'clock Mirabilis linearis
narrowleaf purple coneflower Echinacea angustifolia
narrowleaf stoneseed Lithospermum incisum
neckweed Veronica peregrina
pale dock Rumex altissimus
pitseed goosefoot Chenopodium berlandieri
prairie cupgrass Eriochloa contracta
queen's-delight Stillingia sylvatica
scarlet beeblossom Oenothera suffrutescens
silverleaf nightshade Solanum elaeagnifolium
slickseed fuzzybean Strophostyles leiosperma
slimflower scurfpea Psoralidium tenuiflorum
snow on the mountain Euphorbia marginata
snowball sand verbena Abronia fragrans
southern annual saltmarsh aster Symphyotrichum divaricatum
trailing fleabane Erigeron flagellaris
tufted lovegrass Eragrostis pectinacea
tumble windmill grass Chloris verticillata
tumblegrass Schedonnardus paniculatus
twistspine pricklypear Opuntia macrorhiza
wedgeleaf Phyla cuneifolia
western tansymustard Descurainia pinnata
western wallflower Erysimum asperum

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.

toothed spurgeEuphorbia dentata

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, Moore County and Texas
Measure	Moore County	Typical county	Statewide
Native species	70	145	1,683
Garden-ready natives	28	61	656
Tree	1	—	164
Shrub	5	—	90
Wildflower (forb)	43	—	877
Grass or grass-like	18	—	431
Vine	2	—	83
Fern	1	—	38

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Moore County.

Carson County, TX 39 garden-ready
Hartley County, TX 67 garden-ready
Hutchinson County, TX 78 garden-ready
Potter County, TX 62 garden-ready
Sherman County, TX 40 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: Moore County (county FIPS 48341), Texas. 70 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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