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Native plants · Texas

Native plants of Zavala County

56 plant species are recorded as native to Texas in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Zavala County by USDA PLANTS. 25 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

Zavala County, Texas

PLANTS records only 25 garden-ready natives here (under 30). County records are thin in some places; the Texas list is a useful second check.

Native species
56 Typical Texas county: 145 (median of 254 counties)
Garden-ready natives
25 Typical Texas county: 61
Share by type (all 56 native species)
Percent of the 56 native species in each growth type
Tree 5% (3)
Shrub 4% (2)
Wildflower (forb) 54% (30)
Grass or grass-like 32% (18)
Vine 4% (2)
Fern 2% (1)

Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (54%), followed by grasses and grass-like plants (32%).

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 9a (2023 map).

The native plant list

Cold hardiness is estimated from each plant’s PLANTS minimum temperature. How we estimate it.

Garden-ready natives 25

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

Garden-ready native plants of Zavala County, Texas
PlantType HeightLight Water useHardy to
alkali sacaton Sporobolus airoides Grass or grass-like 3 ft Sun Low Zone 3b
American water-willow Justicia americana Wildflower (forb) 2.5 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 4b
Apache plume Fallugia paradoxa Shrub 6 ft Sun Low Zone 5a
Arizona cottontop Digitaria californica Grass or grass-like 4 ft Sun Low Zone 6a
blackeyed Susan Rudbeckia hirta Wildflower (forb) 1 ft Sun Medium Zone 5a
common buttonbush Cephalanthus occidentalis Tree 15 ft Shade-tolerant High Zone 4a
common maidenhair Adiantum capillus-veneris Fern 1.7 ft Shade-tolerant High Zone 4a
creosote bush Larrea tridentata Shrub 10 ft Sun Low Zone 5a
curly-mesquite Hilaria belangeri Grass or grass-like 10 in Sun Low Zone 8b
desert willow Chilopsis linearis Tree 25 ft Sun–part shade Low Zone 5a
fragrant flatsedge Cyperus odoratus Grass or grass-like 2 ft Sun Medium Zone 11b
golden crownbeard Verbesina encelioides Wildflower (forb) 2 ft Sun Medium Zone 5a
honey mesquite Prosopis glandulosa Tree 50 ft Sun Low Zone 6a
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
partridge pea Chamaecrista fasciculata Wildflower (forb) 2.4 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 7a
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
sideoats grama Bouteloua curtipendula Grass or grass-like 3 ft Sun Medium Zone 3a
swamp sawgrass Cladium mariscus Grass or grass-like 8.2 ft Sun Medium Zone 8b
swamp smartweed Polygonum hydropiperoides Wildflower (forb) — Sun Medium Zone 10b
Torrey's rush Juncus torreyi Grass or grass-like 3.1 ft Sun Medium Zone 3b
upright prairie coneflower Ratibida columnifera Wildflower (forb) 3.1 ft Sun Medium Zone 3a
Virginia wildrye Elymus virginicus Grass or grass-like 2.5 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 4b
wild tantan Desmanthus virgatus Wildflower (forb) 2 ft Shade-tolerant Low Zone 9a

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.

  • American star-thistle Centaurea americana
  • bigseed alfalfa dodder Cuscuta indecora
  • bigtop lovegrass Eragrostis hirsuta
  • Canada spikesedge Eleocharis geniculata
  • carelessweed Amaranthus palmeri
  • clasping Venus' looking-glass Triodanis perfoliata
  • creeping lovegrass Neeragrostis reptans
  • Cuman ragweed Ambrosia psilostachya
  • Dakota mock vervain Glandularia bipinnatifida
  • erect centella Centella erecta
  • feather fingergrass Chloris virgata
  • hairyseed paspalum Paspalum pubiflorum
  • hogwort Croton capitatus
  • humped bladderwort Utricularia gibba
  • Illinois pondweed Potamogeton illinoensis
  • Madagascar dropseed Sporobolus pyramidatus
  • pinkladies Oenothera speciosa
  • prairie broomweed Amphiachyris dracunculoides
  • sand spikerush Eleocharis montevidensis
  • slender snakecotton Froelichia gracilis
  • small Venus' looking-glass Triodanis biflora
  • sneezeweed Helenium amarum
  • southern dewberry Rubus trivialis
  • sunbright Phemeranthus parviflorus
  • Texas star Sabatia campestris
  • tumblegrass Schedonnardus paniculatus
  • verrucose seapurslane Sesuvium verrucosum
  • Virginia pepperweed Lepidium virginicum
  • warty spurge Euphorbia spathulata
  • whorled marshpennywort Hydrocotyle verticillata
  • 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.

  • annual ragweedAmbrosia artemisiifolia

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, Zavala County and Texas
MeasureZavala CountyTypical countyStatewide
Native species 56 145 1,683
Garden-ready natives 25 61 656
Tree 3 — 164
Shrub 2 — 90
Wildflower (forb) 30 — 877
Grass or grass-like 18 — 431
Vine 2 — 83
Fern 1 — 38

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Zavala County.

Look up another ZIP

Matches your ZIP to the county it mostly lies in, then lists the plants recorded as native to your state (Kew’s World Checklist and USDA PLANTS) and recorded in that county by USDA PLANTS.

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
Zavala County (county FIPS 48507), Texas. 56 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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