Native plants · Texas

Native plants of Young County

69 plant species are recorded as native to Texas in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Young 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

Young 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: 69 Typical Texas county: 145 (median of 254 counties)
Garden-ready natives: 28 Typical Texas county: 61
Share by type (all 69 native species): Percent of the 69 native species in each growth type

Tree 1% (1)
Shrub 6% (4)
Wildflower (forb) 61% (42)
Grass or grass-like 29% (20)
Fern 3% (2)

Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (61%), followed by grasses and grass-like plants (29%).

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 28

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

Garden-ready native plants of Young 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
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
clasping coneflower Dracopis amplexicaulis	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun	High	Zone 10b
composite dropseed Sporobolus compositus	Grass or grass-like	3 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
disk waterhyssop Bacopa rotundifolia	Wildflower (forb)	1 in	Sun	High	Zone 4a
dotted blazing star Liatris punctata	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
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
Indian blanket Gaillardia pulchella	Wildflower (forb)	2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 10b
Indian woodoats Chasmanthium latifolium	Grass or grass-like	4.6 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 4a
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
Nuttall's povertyweed Monolepis nuttalliana	Wildflower (forb)	10 in	Sun	Medium	Zone 12a
prairie fleabane Erigeron strigosus	Wildflower (forb)	3 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 4b
prairie Junegrass Koeleria macrantha	Grass or grass-like	1.5 ft	Shade-tolerant	High	Zone 3b
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
salt heliotrope Heliotropium curassavicum	Wildflower (forb)	1.2 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 4b
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
switchgrass Panicum virgatum	Grass or grass-like	5 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
tapertip flatsedge Cyperus acuminatus	Grass or grass-like	1.3 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 3b
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

Other native species recorded here 41

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 buckwheat Eriogonum annuum
annual phlox Phlox drummondii
Carolina larkspur Delphinium carolinianum
Carolina woollywhite Hymenopappus scabiosaeus
Cuman ragweed Ambrosia psilostachya
curvepod fumewort Corydalis curvisiliqua
diamond-flowers Stenaria nigricans
flatspine stickseed Lappula occidentalis
heavy sedge Carex gravida
Hopi tea greenthread Thelesperma megapotamicum
lacy tansyaster Machaeranthera pinnatifida
large beardtongue Penstemon grandiflorus
lesser duckweed Lemna aequinoctialis
Missouri foxtail cactus Escobaria missouriensis
narrowleaf stoneseed Lithospermum incisum
neckweed Veronica peregrina
Nuttall's sensitive-briar Mimosa nuttallii
pitseed goosefoot Chenopodium berlandieri
poverty dropseed Sporobolus vaginiflorus
prairie broomweed Amphiachyris dracunculoides
purple cliffbrake Pellaea atropurpurea
sixweeks fescue Vulpia octoflora
sleepy silene Silene antirrhina
slender threeseed mercury Acalypha gracilens
slimflower scurfpea Psoralidium tenuiflorum
small pondweed Potamogeton pusillus
Spanish gold Grindelia papposa
spinystar Escobaria vivipara
Texas bluegrass Poa arachnifera
Texas star Sabatia campestris
Texas vervain Verbena halei
tumble windmill grass Chloris verticillata
western rough goldenrod Solidago radula
western tansymustard Descurainia pinnata
whitemouth dayflower Commelina erecta
winged pigweed Cycloloma atriplicifolium
woolly lipfern Cheilanthes tomentosa
woolly tidestromia Tidestromia lanuginosa
Wright's plantain Plantago wrightiana

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, Young County and Texas
Measure	Young County	Typical county	Statewide
Native species	69	145	1,683
Garden-ready natives	28	61	656
Tree	1	—	164
Shrub	4	—	90
Wildflower (forb)	42	—	877
Grass or grass-like	20	—	431
Vine	0	—	83
Fern	2	—	38

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Young County.

Archer County, TX 27 garden-ready
Palo Pinto County, TX 44 garden-ready
Stephens County, TX 21 garden-ready
Throckmorton County, TX 26 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: Young County (county FIPS 48503), Texas. 69 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

Independent reference site. No government affiliation or endorsement.