Grass or grass-like · Poaceae
Prairie wedgescale
Sphenopholis obtusata
Prairie wedgescale is recorded as native to 48 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,124 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Prairie wedgescale at a glance
- Native in
- 1,124 counties, across 48 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3a PLANTS minimum temperature −43°F
- Mature height
- 3.2 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part 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.
Prairie wedgescale is recorded as native to 48 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,124 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 1,124 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 20 counties
- Arizona 11 counties
- Arkansas 44 counties
- California 9 counties
- Colorado 19 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 1 county
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 43 counties
- Georgia 27 counties
- Idaho 3 counties
- Illinois 71 counties
- Indiana 21 counties
- Iowa 30 counties
- Kansas 75 counties
- Kentucky 22 counties
- Louisiana 62 counties
- Maine 1 county
- Massachusetts 6 counties
- Michigan 7 counties
- Minnesota 46 counties
- Mississippi 24 counties
- Missouri 67 counties
- Montana 2 counties
- Nebraska 35 counties
- Nevada 9 counties
- New Hampshire 2 counties
- New Jersey 15 counties
- New Mexico 12 counties
- New York 20 counties
- North Carolina 57 counties
- North Dakota 30 counties
- Ohio 3 counties
- Oklahoma 28 counties
- Oregon 4 counties
- Pennsylvania 16 counties
- Rhode Island 1 county
- South Carolina 25 counties
- South Dakota 16 counties
- Tennessee 39 counties
- Texas 73 counties
- Utah 17 counties
- Vermont 1 county
- Virginia 68 counties
- Washington 7 counties
- West Virginia 5 counties
- Wisconsin 21 counties
- Wyoming 8 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
- Annual, Perennial
- Mature height
- 3.2 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Short
- Active growth period
- Spring
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intermediate (sun to part shade)
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Low
- Precipitation range
- 10 to 60 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Medium and fine
- pH range
- 5 to 7.5
- 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
- 80
- Fire tolerance
- None
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Green
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Contracting Only
- Family
- Poaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- SPOB
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
- Sphenopholis obtusata (PLANTS symbol SPOB).
- 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