Native plants · Texas
Native plants of Swisher County
63 plant species are recorded as native to Texas in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Swisher 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
Swisher 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
- 63 Typical Texas county: 145 (median of 254 counties)
- Garden-ready natives
- 29 Typical Texas county: 61
- Share by type (all 63 native species)
-
Percent of the 63 native species in each growth type
Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (65%), followed by grasses and grass-like plants (24%).
The native plant list
Garden-ready natives 29
Native species with PLANTS growing records (height, light, moisture, minimum temperature). “—” means PLANTS has no value.
| Plant | Type | Height | Light | Water use | Hardy to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| alkali buttercup Ranunculus cymbalaria | Wildflower (forb) | 1 ft | Shade-tolerant | High | Zone 3b |
| alkali sacaton Sporobolus airoides | Grass or grass-like | 3 ft | Sun | Low | Zone 3b |
| American licorice Glycyrrhiza lepidota | Wildflower (forb) | 4 ft | Sun–part shade | High | Zone 3b |
| big bluestem Andropogon gerardii | Grass or grass-like | 6 ft | Sun | Low | Zone 2b |
| black willow Salix nigra | Tree | 100 ft | Sun | High | Zone 1b |
| broadleaf cattail Typha latifolia | Wildflower (forb) | 5 ft | Sun–part shade | High | Zone 3b |
| 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 |
| cardinalflower Lobelia cardinalis | Wildflower (forb) | 5.9 ft | Shade-tolerant | Low | Zone 4a |
| common buttonbush Cephalanthus occidentalis | Tree | 15 ft | Shade-tolerant | High | Zone 4a |
| golden tickseed Coreopsis tinctoria | Wildflower (forb) | 3 ft | Sun–part shade | High | Zone 12b |
| green prairie coneflower Ratibida tagetes | Wildflower (forb) | 1 ft | Sun | Low | Zone 4b |
| honey mesquite Prosopis glandulosa | Tree | 50 ft | Sun | Low | Zone 6a |
| Indianhemp Apocynum cannabinum | Wildflower (forb) | 3.3 ft | Sun–part shade | High | Zone 3a |
| knotgrass Paspalum distichum | Grass or grass-like | 11 in | Sun | High | Zone 6a |
| leafy pondweed Potamogeton foliosus | Wildflower (forb) | — | Sun | High | Zone 3b |
| little bluestem Schizachyrium scoparium | Grass or grass-like | 3 ft | Sun | Low | Zone 3b |
| Malabar sprangletop Leptochloa fusca | Grass or grass-like | 3.3 ft | Sun | High | Zone 3a |
| oneseed juniper Juniperus monosperma | Tree | 40 ft | Sun | Low | Zone 6a |
| Pennsylvania smartweed Polygonum pensylvanicum | Wildflower (forb) | 3.9 ft | Sun | Medium | Zone 10b |
| sand dropseed Sporobolus cryptandrus | Grass or grass-like | 3 ft | Sun | Low | Zone 3b |
| showy milkweed Asclepias speciosa | Wildflower (forb) | 6 ft | Sun | Medium | Zone 4a |
| squirreltail Elymus elymoides | Grass or grass-like | 1.5 ft | Sun | Low | Zone 3a |
| tanseyleaf tansyaster Machaeranthera tanacetifolia | Wildflower (forb) | 2 ft | Sun | Medium | Zone 4a |
| 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 |
| 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 |
No garden-ready natives match these filters. Try clearing one.
Other native species recorded here 34
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.
- annual buckwheat Eriogonum annuum
- bigbract verbena Verbena bracteata
- blue mudplantain Heteranthera limosa
- brook cinquefoil Potentilla rivalis
- buffalobur nightshade Solanum rostratum
- carelessweed Amaranthus palmeri
- coastal sandbur Cenchrus spinifex
- downy ragged goldenrod Solidago petiolaris
- Engelmann's daisy Engelmannia peristenia
- feather fingergrass Chloris virgata
- Hopi tea greenthread Thelesperma megapotamicum
- lacy tansyaster Machaeranthera pinnatifida
- lanceleaf sage Salvia reflexa
- Louisiana vetch Vicia ludoviciana
- mealy goosefoot Chenopodium incanum
- narrowleaf four o'clock Mirabilis linearis
- pale dock Rumex altissimus
- pale spikerush Eleocharis macrostachya
- pitseed goosefoot Chenopodium berlandieri
- prairie broomweed Amphiachyris dracunculoides
- ram's horn Proboscidea louisianica
- scarlet beeblossom Oenothera suffrutescens
- silverleaf nightshade Solanum elaeagnifolium
- slimflower scurfpea Psoralidium tenuiflorum
- sneezeweed Helenium amarum
- snow on the mountain Euphorbia marginata
- southern annual saltmarsh aster Symphyotrichum divaricatum
- Spanish gold Grindelia papposa
- spinystar Escobaria vivipara
- tufted lovegrass Eragrostis pectinacea
- tumblegrass Schedonnardus paniculatus
- wedgeleaf Phyla cuneifolia
- whitemouth dayflower Commelina erecta
- woolly tidestromia Tidestromia lanuginosa
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 | Swisher County | Typical county | Statewide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Native species | 63 | 145 | 1,683 |
| Garden-ready natives | 29 | 61 | 656 |
| Tree | 4 | — | 164 |
| Shrub | 2 | — | 90 |
| Wildflower (forb) | 41 | — | 877 |
| Grass or grass-like | 15 | — | 431 |
| Vine | 1 | — | 83 |
| Fern | 0 | — | 38 |
Neighboring counties
Counties that share a ZIP code with Swisher County.
- Briscoe County, TX 63 garden-ready
- Castro County, TX 30 garden-ready
- Floyd County, TX 33 garden-ready
- Hale County, TX 24 garden-ready
- Randall County, TX 114 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
- Swisher County (county FIPS 48437), Texas. 63 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