Grass or grass-like · Poaceae
Sand dropseed
Sporobolus cryptandrus
Sand dropseed is recorded as native to 38 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 917 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Sand dropseed at a glance
- Native in
- 917 counties, across 38 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.
Sand dropseed is recorded as native to 38 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 917 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 917 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Arizona 15 counties
- Arkansas 9 counties
- California 18 counties
- Colorado 36 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Idaho 18 counties
- Illinois 47 counties
- Indiana 11 counties
- Iowa 22 counties
- Kansas 96 counties
- Kentucky 7 counties
- Louisiana 14 counties
- Maine 1 county
- Massachusetts 8 counties
- Michigan 33 counties
- Minnesota 37 counties
- Missouri 24 counties
- Montana 10 counties
- Nebraska 61 counties
- Nevada 11 counties
- New Hampshire 1 county
- New Jersey 2 counties
- New Mexico 33 counties
- New York 19 counties
- North Dakota 28 counties
- Ohio 8 counties
- Oklahoma 36 counties
- Oregon 11 counties
- Pennsylvania 7 counties
- South Dakota 24 counties
- Tennessee 4 counties
- Texas 167 counties
- Utah 25 counties
- Vermont 1 county
- Washington 9 counties
- West Virginia 1 county
- Wisconsin 44 counties
- Wyoming 19 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
- 3 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Short
- Active growth period
- Spring
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
- 8 to 16 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 6.6 to 8
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- Medium
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 18 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −38°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 150
- Fire tolerance
- Medium
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Late 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
- SPCR
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 cryptandrus (PLANTS symbol SPCR).
- 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