# Native trees by state: which species grow wild where you live

> Pick a state and see which of our native trees and shrubs the USDA records growing wild there, with the ones native only to part of the country listed apart.

Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/

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](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md) asks about the location itself.

## Start with a state

Any of the fifty states or the District of Columbia. The list is what the USDA records growing wild there among the trees and shrubs we grow. Every plant page also states the whole native range in words. The [tree finder](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-finder/index.html.md) narrows the catalog to your zone, sun and soil, which decide far more than the state line.

How many of our trees and shrubs are native to each:

[Alabama 256](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AL) · [Alaska 6](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AK) · [Arizona 11](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AZ) · [Arkansas 176](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AR) · [California 10](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CA) · [Colorado 20](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CO) · [Connecticut 117](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CT) · [Delaware 120](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DE) · [District of Columbia 104](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DC) · [Florida 202](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=FL) · [Georgia 291](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA) · [Hawaii 0](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=HI) · [Idaho 7](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ID) · [Illinois 159](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IL) · [Indiana 149](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IN) · [Iowa 96](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IA) · [Kansas 83](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KS) · [Kentucky 191](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KY) · [Louisiana 173](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=LA) · [Maine 88](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ME) · [Maryland 168](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MD) · [Massachusetts 120](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MA) · [Michigan 106](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MI) · [Minnesota 81](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MN) · [Mississippi 204](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MS) · [Missouri 145](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MO) · [Montana 17](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MT) · [Nebraska 55](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NE) · [Nevada 4](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NV) · [New Hampshire 96](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NH) · [New Jersey 146](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NJ) · [New Mexico 17](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NM) · [New York 144](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NY) · [North Carolina 243](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NC) · [North Dakota 35](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ND) · [Ohio 142](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OH) · [Oklahoma 136](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OK) · [Oregon 7](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OR) · [Pennsylvania 159](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=PA) · [Rhode Island 96](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=RI) · [South Carolina 244](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SC) · [South Dakota 37](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SD) · [Tennessee 221](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TN) · [Texas 150](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TX) · [Utah 9](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=UT) · [Vermont 96](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VT) · [Virginia 215](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA) · [Washington 9](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WA) · [West Virginia 153](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WV) · [Wisconsin 93](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WI) · [Wyoming 20](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WY)

What it got wrong, what it should also answer, or what was unclear.

## 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](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/range-maps-are-wrong/index.html.md) 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.