Mississippi: the native trees and shrubs we grow
Pick a state and see which of the 364 trees and shrubs we grow are recorded growing wild there, by the USDA PLANTS Database. Some of our trees have spread well beyond their native range. Those count as native only in the states their original range reaches, and elsewhere they are listed apart with their page's own sentence. A state record is a start, not a verdict on your ground. The planting-site check asks about the location itself.
Native and recorded in Mississippi
204 of our 364 trees and shrubs are native to Mississippi
Recorded there by the USDA PLANTS Database, and native there by the rules below.
PLANTS has no record of Hairy Laurel and Schwerin's Indigobush in Mississippi. NatureServe places them there.
Native here does not mean hardy where you are. Each card gives its zones, and the ZIP code tool finds yours.
47 large trees
28 medium trees
58 small trees
71 shrubs
Recorded in Mississippi
Native only to part of the country
PLANTS records these growing wild in Mississippi, but their native range does not reach it. Each has spread here from planting or rests on an old or mistaken record. The sentence under each gives its native range or the reason.
Black Locust Robinia pseudoacacia
It grows wild in two blocks, the Appalachians from central Pennsylvania and southern Ohio south to northern Georgia and Alabama, and the Ozarks of Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma. It has since spread across the country.
Northern Catalpa Catalpa speciosa
Its native ground is a small area of the central Mississippi Valley in western Tennessee, northeast Arkansas, eastern Missouri, western Kentucky and southern Illinois and Indiana. After 200 years of planting it grows across most eastern states.
Bristly Locust (Rose Locust) Robinia hispida
It grows wild in the mountains from Virginia to Kentucky and south to Georgia and Alabama, in open woods, on mountain slopes and on sand hills, and it has spread far beyond that range.
Sweet Birch (Black Birch) Betula lenta
It grows wild from southern Maine and Quebec west to eastern Ohio and south from Pennsylvania through the Appalachians to northern Alabama and Georgia, best on moist, protected north and east slopes.
Softleaf Arrowwood Viburnum molle
Records from Alabama, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania lie outside its native range.
Harbison's Hawthorn Crataegus harbisonii
Older records from Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi rest on a broader view of the species, one that took in its close relative Ashe's hawthorn.
Climbing Prairie Rose Rosa setigera
In New England, along much of the Atlantic coast and in Mississippi and Louisiana, it was brought in from the Midwest or escaped from gardens.
Swamp White Oak Quercus bicolor
It grows wild from southwestern Maine and southern Quebec west to southeastern Minnesota, and south to Missouri, Kentucky and Virginia.
Recorded in Mississippi
Introduced, not native
PLANTS records these growing wild in Mississippi and lists them as introduced to the region.
151 of our trees and shrubs are not recorded in Mississippi
Not recorded growing wild there by PLANTS. Many still grow well there when planted: hardiness, soil and sun decide that, not the state line. Each page gives the tree's zones.
Alabama Croton, Alderleaf Buckthorn, Allegheny Plum, Allegheny Serviceberry, American Crabapple, American Fly Honeysuckle, American Mountain Ash, American Smoketree, Ashe's Magnolia, Bartram's Serviceberry, Beach Plum, Beaked Hazelnut, Bear Huckleberry, Bear Oak (Scrub Oak), Black Maple, Blue Ridge St. John's-wort, Bottlebrush Buckeye, Box Huckleberry, Boynton Oak, Bracted Arrowwood, Broom Crowberry, Canada Buffaloberry, Canada Plum, Canada Yew, Carolina Bog Laurel, Carolina Hemlock, Carolina Silverbell, Carolina St. John's-wort, Catawba Rhododendron, Catberry, Chapman Oak, Chapman's St. John's-wort, Chokecherry, Cinnamon Clethra, Clammy Locust, Clusterspike Indigobush, Coastal Azalea, Common Prickly Ash (Toothache Tree), Corkwood, Creeping Blueberry, Creeping Juniper, Cumberland Azalea, Cumberland Rosemary, Downy Arrowwood, Dwarf Tupelo, Dwarf Witch Alder, Fevertree, Flag Pawpaw, Flame Azalea, Florida Leucothoe, Florida Swamp Privet, Florida Torreya, Florida Willow, Florida Yew, Four-petal Pawpaw, Franklin Tree, Fraser Fir, Fraser Magnolia, Georgia Bully, Georgia Indigobush, Georgia Oak, Georgia Plume, Godfrey's Swamp Privet, Golden Heather, Granite Gooseberry, Gray Birch, Gray Dogwood, Hairy Blueberry, Hobblebush, Honeycup, Hortulan Plum, Leadplant, Little Walnut, Littleleaf Buckbrush, Lloyd's St. John's-wort, Long-stalked Holly, Maple-leaf Oak, May White Azalea, Miccosukee Gooseberry, Michaux's Sumac, Minnie-bush, Mountain Bush-honeysuckle, Mountain Doghobble, Mountain Fetterbush, Mountain Indigobush, Mountain Maple, Mountain Sweetbells, Mountain Winterberry, Mountain Witch Alder, Nannyberry, Nantucket Serviceberry, Netted Pawpaw, Ninebark, Northern Bayberry, Northern Pin Oak, Northern White Cedar, Oconee Azalea, Ogeechee Tupelo, Ouachita Indigobush, Ozark Witch Hazel, Painted Buckeye, Piedmont Rhododendron, Pin Cherry, Pinkshell Azalea, Pinxterbloom Azalea, Piratebush, Plateau Live Oak, Plumleaf Azalea, Pond Pine, Pondspice, Prairie Crabapple, Prairie Redroot, Pygmy Fringetree, Red Elderberry, Red Hills Azalea, Red Osier Dogwood, Red Spruce, Rhodora, Rock Elm, Rosebay Rhododendron, Roundleaf Dogwood, Roundleaf Serviceberry, Sand Cherry, Sand Myrtle, Sandhill Oak, Scrub Hickory, Scrub Plum, Seaside Alder, Shining Indigobush, Silverleaf Hydrangea, Slimleaf Pawpaw, Smooth Winterberry, Smooth-bark St. John's-wort, Southern Bush-honeysuckle, Southern Pawpaw, Squashberry, Staggerbush, Striped Maple, Table Mountain Pine, Tamarack, Texas Red Oak, Tough Bully, Virginia Spiraea, Walter's Viburnum, Weeping Hawthorn, White Wicky, Wild Black Currant, Woolly Beach Heather, Woolly Pawpaw, Yellow Anise, Yellow Birch
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How the lists are made
- Recorded in the state. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service's PLANTS Database, the national standard for plant distribution, records a species in a state when a specimen or a published record places it growing there on its own. The lists hold the trees and shrubs we grow that it records in the state.
- Native there. PLANTS gives native status for a region, the lower 48 states as one, rather than for each state. So a species native to the East that has escaped from planting in a western state is recorded there as native to the region. A tree or shrub counts as native in a state PLANTS gives it as native, unless a narrower range is on record.
- A narrower range. For 95 of our trees and shrubs the records carry the states their native range reaches. They come from the Forest Service's Silvics of North America and range descriptions, NatureServe Explorer's state records, the NRCS plant guides, the Biota of North America Program's atlas and the state floras.
- How a state is set apart. A state where NatureServe calls a tree or shrub introduced is set apart when the range on its own page does not reach it. So is a western state where NatureServe has no record of it, far from that range. So is a state clearly outside the native range that Silvics of North America gives.
- Listed apart. In a state its native range does not reach, a tree or shrub PLANTS records there is listed apart, under a sentence from its page on its range or on the record. Some trees and shrubs have spread far beyond their native range. Black locust, rose locust and the two catalpas have spread the farthest, each into 32 or 33 other states.
- Added from another record. Where the range on a plant page reaches a state PLANTS lacks, the state is added, and its heading names the record that places the tree or shrub there. Bigleaf witch hazel was described in 2006, and PLANTS records it in Alabama and Mississippi only, so its Florida, Georgia and Texas records are NatureServe's. Another 24 trees and shrubs each carry a state or two this way, such as long-stalked holly's Georgia and Tennessee.
- Introduced. A species PLANTS lists as introduced to the region is listed as introduced, not native.
- Not recorded. The rest of our trees and shrubs, which PLANTS does not record growing wild in the state, are named in the fold under the lists. Many still grow well there when planted.
- Your zone. The line under the heading counts the natives rated for the zone this device remembers, by each card's own zones, as the shop's zone filter counts them. Native here does not mean hardy where you are.
- The order. The natives come by mature size, from large trees to shrubs. Within each size, Featured is the shop's own order.
A state line is a surveyor's line. A species recorded in the next state, on the same river and the same soil, belongs on your ground as much as anything on this list, and one recorded in your state may be native only to a corner of it. Why the range maps are wrong goes through the errors every range map carries and what to trust instead: herbarium records, state atlases and your own eyes. Each plant page states the native range in words, from the Forest Service's silvics and the state extension services.
Sources: USDA, NRCS. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov), state records read on 2026-09-23. National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA. NatureServe. 2026. NatureServe Explorer (https://explorer.natureserve.org), state records read on 2026-10-05. NatureServe, Arlington, Virginia. Burns, R. M. and B. H. Honkala, technical coordinators. 1990. Silvics of North America. Agriculture Handbook 654. USDA Forest Service, Washington, DC.