Grass or grass-like · Poaceae
Indiangrass
Sorghastrum nutans
Indiangrass is recorded as native to 43 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,354 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Indiangrass at a glance
- Native in
- 1,354 counties, across 43 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b PLANTS minimum temperature −38°F
- Mature height
- 6 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Medium 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.
Indiangrass is recorded as native to 43 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,354 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 1,354 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 17 counties
- Arizona 4 counties
- Arkansas 40 counties
- Colorado 16 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 2 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 15 counties
- Georgia 18 counties
- Illinois 102 counties
- Indiana 46 counties
- Iowa 45 counties
- Kansas 105 counties
- Kentucky 51 counties
- Louisiana 25 counties
- Maine 3 counties
- Maryland 1 county
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Michigan 32 counties
- Minnesota 60 counties
- Mississippi 17 counties
- Missouri 59 counties
- Nebraska 52 counties
- New Hampshire 4 counties
- New Jersey 17 counties
- New Mexico 19 counties
- New York 35 counties
- North Carolina 73 counties
- North Dakota 9 counties
- Ohio 44 counties
- Oklahoma 29 counties
- Pennsylvania 49 counties
- Rhode Island 3 counties
- South Carolina 28 counties
- South Dakota 15 counties
- Tennessee 42 counties
- Texas 98 counties
- Utah 4 counties
- Vermont 4 counties
- Virginia 80 counties
- West Virginia 26 counties
- Wisconsin 48 counties
- Wyoming 2 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
- 6 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Summer and Fall
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Medium
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Low
- Precipitation range
- 11 to 45 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 4.8 to 8
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- High
- Salinity tolerance
- Medium
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 24 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −38°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 120
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- 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
- SONU2
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
- Sorghastrum nutans (PLANTS symbol SONU2).
- 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