Native plants · Texas

Native plants of Parmer County

73 plant species are recorded as native to Texas in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Parmer County by USDA PLANTS. 31 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Parmer County, Texas

Native species: 73 Typical Texas county: 145 (median of 254 counties)
Garden-ready natives: 31 Typical Texas county: 61
Share by type (all 73 native species): Percent of the 73 native species in each growth type

Tree 1% (1)
Shrub 7% (5)
Wildflower (forb) 64% (47)
Grass or grass-like 26% (19)
Fern 1% (1)

Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (64%), 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 31

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

Garden-ready native plants of Parmer County, Texas
Plant	Type	Height	Light	Water use	Hardy to
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
Canadian horseweed Conyza canadensis	Wildflower (forb)	5 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 12b
common spikerush Eleocharis palustris	Grass or grass-like	1.3 ft	Sun	High	Zone 3b
dotted blazing star Liatris punctata	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
golden crownbeard Verbesina encelioides	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 5a
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
Indian ricegrass Achnatherum hymenoides	Grass or grass-like	2 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3a
Indiangrass Sorghastrum nutans	Grass or grass-like	6 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3b
Indianhemp Apocynum cannabinum	Wildflower (forb)	3.3 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 3a
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
longleaf pondweed Potamogeton nodosus	Wildflower (forb)	—	Sun	High	Zone 3b
lyreleaf greeneyes Berlandiera lyrata	Wildflower (forb)	4 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 5a
narrowleaf willow Salix exigua	Tree	10 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 3b
Pennsylvania smartweed Polygonum pensylvanicum	Wildflower (forb)	3.9 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
roughfruit amaranth Amaranthus tuberculatus	Wildflower (forb)	6.6 ft	Sun	High	Zone 4a
sago pondweed Stuckenia pectinata	Wildflower (forb)	—	Sun	High	Zone 3b
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
soapweed yucca Yucca glauca	Shrub	1 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 4b
southern waternymph Najas guadalupensis	Wildflower (forb)	1 ft	Sun	High	Zone 3b
spreading yellowcress Rorippa sinuata	Wildflower (forb)	1 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3b
squirreltail Elymus elymoides	Grass or grass-like	1.5 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3a
upright prairie coneflower Ratibida columnifera	Wildflower (forb)	3.1 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
waterthread pondweed Potamogeton diversifolius	Wildflower (forb)	3.2 ft	Sun	High	Zone 3b
western wheatgrass Pascopyrum smithii	Grass or grass-like	2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
woolly locoweed Astragalus mollissimus	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 4b

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.

Baldwin's ironweed Vernonia baldwinii
bigbract verbena Verbena bracteata
buffalobur nightshade Solanum rostratum
bushy knotweed Polygonum ramosissimum
carelessweed Amaranthus palmeri
coastal sandbur Cenchrus spinifex
Cuman ragweed Ambrosia psilostachya
curlytop knotweed Polygonum lapathifolium
Engelmann's daisy Engelmannia peristenia
false buffalograss Munroa squarrosa
feather fingergrass Chloris virgata
fetid marigold Dyssodia papposa
groundplum milkvetch Astragalus crassicarpus
Hopi tea greenthread Thelesperma megapotamicum
lacy tansyaster Machaeranthera pinnatifida
lanceleaf sage Salvia reflexa
mat sandbur Cenchrus longispinus
matted sandmat Chamaesyce serpens
mealy goosefoot Chenopodium incanum
narrowleaf four o'clock Mirabilis linearis
pitseed goosefoot Chenopodium berlandieri
pony beebalm Monarda pectinata
prairie broomweed Amphiachyris dracunculoides
ram's horn Proboscidea louisianica
ribseed sandmat Chamaesyce glyptosperma
sand sagebrush Artemisia filifolia
sand spikerush Eleocharis montevidensis
sandhill amaranth Amaranthus arenicola
scarlet beeblossom Oenothera suffrutescens
silverleaf nightshade Solanum elaeagnifolium
slender lipfern Cheilanthes feei
slimflower scurfpea Psoralidium tenuiflorum
sneezeweed Helenium amarum
snow on the mountain Euphorbia marginata
southern annual saltmarsh aster Symphyotrichum divaricatum
southern jointweed Polygonella americana
spinystar Escobaria vivipara
tufted lovegrass Eragrostis pectinacea
tumblegrass Schedonnardus paniculatus
velvety goldenrod Solidago mollis
wedgeleaf Phyla cuneifolia
witchgrass Panicum capillare

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, Parmer County and Texas
Measure	Parmer County	Typical county	Statewide
Native species	73	145	1,683
Garden-ready natives	31	61	656
Tree	1	—	164
Shrub	5	—	90
Wildflower (forb)	47	—	877
Grass or grass-like	19	—	431
Vine	0	—	83
Fern	1	—	38

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Parmer County.

Bailey County, TX 70 garden-ready
Deaf Smith County, TX 87 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: Parmer County (county FIPS 48369), Texas. 73 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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