Grass or grass-like · Poaceae
Switchgrass
Panicum virgatum · includes its varieties and subspecies
Switchgrass is recorded as native to 44 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,453 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Switchgrass at a glance
- Native in
- 1,453 counties, across 44 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3a PLANTS minimum temperature −43°F
- Mature height
- 5 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) 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.
Switchgrass is recorded as native to 44 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,453 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 1,453 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 10 counties
- Arizona 5 counties
- Arkansas 36 counties
- Colorado 25 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 3 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 45 counties
- Georgia 28 counties
- Illinois 87 counties
- Indiana 53 counties
- Iowa 44 counties
- Kansas 105 counties
- Kentucky 37 counties
- Louisiana 39 counties
- Maryland 1 county
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Michigan 36 counties
- Minnesota 60 counties
- Mississippi 38 counties
- Missouri 72 counties
- Montana 5 counties
- Nebraska 68 counties
- Nevada 1 county
- New Hampshire 7 counties
- New Jersey 18 counties
- New Mexico 19 counties
- New York 29 counties
- North Carolina 52 counties
- North Dakota 34 counties
- Ohio 62 counties
- Oklahoma 38 counties
- Pennsylvania 47 counties
- Rhode Island 5 counties
- South Carolina 25 counties
- South Dakota 35 counties
- Tennessee 30 counties
- Texas 103 counties
- Utah 7 counties
- Vermont 3 counties
- Virginia 48 counties
- West Virginia 22 counties
- Wisconsin 49 counties
- Wyoming 7 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
- Graminoid
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 5 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Medium
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Medium
- Precipitation range
- 12 to 60 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 4.5 to 8
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Low
- Salinity tolerance
- Medium
- Fertility requirement
- High
- Minimum root depth
- 12 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −43°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 120
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Mid Summer
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Poaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- PAVI2
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
- Panicum virgatum (PLANTS symbol PAVI2), including 1 variety or subspecies folded into the species.
- 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