Grass or grass-like · Poaceae
Whitegrass
Leersia virginica
Whitegrass is recorded as native to 38 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,210 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Whitegrass at a glance
- Native in
- 1,210 counties, across 38 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3a PLANTS minimum temperature −43°F
- Mature height
- 3.9 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Tolerates shade Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −43°F; zone 3a winters bottom out at −40°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Whitegrass is recorded as native to 38 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,210 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 1,210 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 9 counties
- Arkansas 32 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 2 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 22 counties
- Georgia 17 counties
- Illinois 85 counties
- Indiana 79 counties
- Iowa 31 counties
- Kansas 47 counties
- Kentucky 69 counties
- Louisiana 56 counties
- Maine 5 counties
- Massachusetts 11 counties
- Michigan 20 counties
- Minnesota 35 counties
- Mississippi 26 counties
- Missouri 57 counties
- Nebraska 25 counties
- New Hampshire 7 counties
- New Jersey 19 counties
- New York 47 counties
- North Carolina 62 counties
- North Dakota 1 county
- Ohio 80 counties
- Oklahoma 12 counties
- Pennsylvania 63 counties
- Rhode Island 2 counties
- South Carolina 23 counties
- South Dakota 2 counties
- Tennessee 51 counties
- Texas 42 counties
- Vermont 8 counties
- Virginia 92 counties
- West Virginia 27 counties
- Wisconsin 42 counties
- Wyoming 1 county
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
- Graminoid
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 3.9 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Short
- Active growth period
- Spring
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Tolerant (tolerates shade)
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- None
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Medium
- Precipitation range
- 15 to 65 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 4.5 to 8.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 4 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −43°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 120
- Fire tolerance
- None
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Green
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Late Summer
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Red
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Poaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- LEVI2
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
- Leersia virginica (PLANTS symbol LEVI2).
- 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