Wildflower (forb) · Ceratophyllaceae
Coon's tail
Ceratophyllum demersum
Coon's tail is recorded as native to 49 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 988 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Coon's tail at a glance
- Native in
- 988 counties, across 49 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b PLANTS minimum temperature −38°F
- Mature height
- Not recorded PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part shade High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −38°F; zone 3b winters bottom out at −35°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Coon's tail is recorded as native to 49 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 988 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 988 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 14 counties
- Alaska 3 counties
- Arizona 9 counties
- Arkansas 19 counties
- California 33 counties
- Colorado 6 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 2 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 28 counties
- Georgia 6 counties
- Idaho 10 counties
- Illinois 79 counties
- Indiana 26 counties
- Iowa 6 counties
- Kansas 43 counties
- Kentucky 15 counties
- Louisiana 54 counties
- Maine 9 counties
- Massachusetts 13 counties
- Michigan 53 counties
- Minnesota 52 counties
- Mississippi 8 counties
- Missouri 42 counties
- Montana 5 counties
- Nebraska 37 counties
- Nevada 7 counties
- New Hampshire 5 counties
- New Jersey 17 counties
- New Mexico 2 counties
- New York 32 counties
- North Carolina 13 counties
- North Dakota 34 counties
- Ohio 34 counties
- Oklahoma 10 counties
- Oregon 17 counties
- Pennsylvania 29 counties
- Rhode Island 2 counties
- South Carolina 4 counties
- South Dakota 10 counties
- Tennessee 17 counties
- Texas 48 counties
- Utah 12 counties
- Vermont 7 counties
- Virginia 24 counties
- Washington 16 counties
- West Virginia 7 counties
- Wisconsin 62 counties
- Wyoming 6 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- Not recorded
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Multiple Stem
- Shape
- Prostrate
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intermediate (sun to part shade)
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- None
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- 10 to 55 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 6 to 8.6
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- High
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 0 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −38°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 110
- Fire tolerance
- Not recorded
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Blue
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Summer
- Foliage color
- Gray-Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- White
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Ceratophyllaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- CEDE4
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.
- Scope
- Ceratophyllum demersum (PLANTS symbol CEDE4).
- 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