Grass or grass-like · Cyperaceae
Common threesquare
Schoenoplectus pungens · includes its varieties and subspecies
Common threesquare is recorded as native to 39 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 775 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Common threesquare at a glance
- Native in
- 775 counties, across 39 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b PLANTS minimum temperature −38°F
- Mature height
- 4.9 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) 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.
Common threesquare is recorded as native to 39 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 775 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 775 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 5 counties
- Arizona 4 counties
- Arkansas 15 counties
- California 1 county
- Colorado 23 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 3 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 26 counties
- Idaho 1 county
- Illinois 40 counties
- Indiana 31 counties
- Iowa 8 counties
- Kansas 1 county
- Kentucky 17 counties
- Louisiana 4 counties
- Maine 13 counties
- Massachusetts 13 counties
- Minnesota 40 counties
- Missouri 38 counties
- Montana 2 counties
- Nebraska 47 counties
- Nevada 5 counties
- New Hampshire 5 counties
- New Jersey 11 counties
- New Mexico 9 counties
- New York 37 counties
- North Dakota 46 counties
- Ohio 34 counties
- Oregon 16 counties
- Pennsylvania 36 counties
- Tennessee 13 counties
- Texas 70 counties
- Utah 27 counties
- Vermont 6 counties
- Virginia 57 counties
- Washington 11 counties
- Wisconsin 39 counties
- Wyoming 20 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record of a variety (SCPUP5). “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Graminoid
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 4.9 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- 12 to 60 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 3.7 to 7.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- Medium
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 14 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −38°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 120
- Fire tolerance
- Medium
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Blue
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Foliage color
- Dark Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Cyperaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- SCPU10
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
- Schoenoplectus pungens (PLANTS symbol SCPU10), including 2 varieties and 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