Do-It-Yourself Plant Lists

• To make a list of native plants of all types occurring in your state and / or county, go to http://plants.usda.gov.
• In the gray column on the left, click on Advanced search.
• Under 1. Distribution select your state and county.
• Then go to 3. Ecology and look under Native Status for "L48 Native."
  [This will include plants native to any of the lower 48 states which are found in the previously selected state and county.]
• If you would like to see only perennial species listed then check under Duration for "perennial," and check the display box.
• If you would like to see only forbs* and herbaceous species listed, then check under Growth Habit for "forb/herb," and check the display box.
• Then go down to the middle of the page or to the bottom and click on the Display Results button.
  You will then be taken to a list of Latin names, each of which is a link to a separate page with a lot more info on that species (example: Andropogon ternarius).

Note: If you click on Characteristics in the list of links to the right of image, you will get a complete listing of the characteristics of that species from the database.

This search engine can break out plant species in lots of different ways, so experiment with and learn more about the power of this US Department of Agriculture website.

* Forbs are herbaceous flowering plants that are not graminoids; graminoids include grasses, sedges and rushes.