Grass or grass-like · Poaceae
Composite dropseed
Sporobolus compositus · includes its varieties and subspecies
Composite dropseed is recorded as native to 36 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 811 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Composite dropseed at a glance
- Native in
- 811 counties, across 36 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b PLANTS minimum temperature −38°F
- Mature height
- 3 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Low 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.
Composite dropseed is recorded as native to 36 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 811 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 811 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 2 counties
- Arizona 2 counties
- Arkansas 13 counties
- Colorado 13 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 1 county
- Illinois 84 counties
- Indiana 39 counties
- Iowa 27 counties
- Kansas 105 counties
- Kentucky 30 counties
- Louisiana 19 counties
- Maryland 6 counties
- Massachusetts 7 counties
- Michigan 5 counties
- Minnesota 12 counties
- Mississippi 10 counties
- Missouri 70 counties
- Nebraska 30 counties
- New Jersey 13 counties
- New Mexico 7 counties
- New York 18 counties
- North Dakota 18 counties
- Ohio 54 counties
- Oklahoma 28 counties
- Pennsylvania 16 counties
- Rhode Island 2 counties
- South Dakota 20 counties
- Tennessee 18 counties
- Texas 103 counties
- Utah 4 counties
- Virginia 6 counties
- Washington 1 county
- West Virginia 2 counties
- Wisconsin 24 counties
- Wyoming 2 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record of a variety (SPCOC2). “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Graminoid
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 3 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Low water use
- Drought tolerance
- High
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 16 to 50 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 5.5 to 7
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Low
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 10 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −38°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 100
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Summer
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- No Known Source
- Family
- Poaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- SPCO16
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
- Sporobolus compositus (PLANTS symbol SPCO16), 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