Native range
Native plants of Illinois
177 wild species and 19 plant groups in the BloomsEye library grow wild somewhere in Illinois, read from Kew's World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS. The 133 garden forms of them are listed apart below, each naming its wild parent.
Showing 1 to 60 of 196 plants
How this list is made
Derived from each plant's native-range record, checked against Kew's World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS with every decision on a ledger; Illinois is read off the record's own range, and the order is how many of the state's counties record each plant, as stored in the BloomsEye library, which was written with AI assistance. Of these 196 plants, 183 have been checked against outside sources (2 fully verified); the rest have not been checked yet, and each plant's own page says which. The cards are AI-generated illustrations.
Range data from the World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 4.0, adapted) and USDA PLANTS. How the native range is credited.
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Recorded across Illinois
How many of the state's 102 counties record each wild species growing wild, from USDA PLANTS: a plant recorded in many counties is widespread in Illinois; one recorded in few may be local, or simply under-recorded. A county's absence is not evidence a plant is absent. 172 of the wild species carry a county record here.
- American Elderberry
- American Hazelnut
- American Hophornbeam
- Bottlebrush Grass
- Bur Oak
- Common Black-Eyed Susan
- Common Hackberry
- Common Milkweed
- False Solomon's Seal
- Indiangrass
- Maidenhair Fern
- Mayapple
- Purple Lovegrass
- Silver Maple
- Smooth Solomon's Seal
- Smooth Sumac
- Virginia Creeper
- White Oak
- Wild Geranium
- Chinkapin Oak
- Woodland Phlox
- Honeylocust
- Swamp Milkweed
- Eastern Red Cedar
- False Sunflower
- Wild Bee Balm
- Carolina Rose
- Culver's Root
- Northern Red Oak
- Great Blue Lobelia
- New Jersey Tea
- Sugar Maple
- American Linden
- Buttonbush
- Narrowleaf Mountain Mint
- Whorled Milkweed
- Little Bluestem
- Rosy Sedge
- Sweet Joe Pye Weed
- Foxglove Beardtongue
- New England Aster
- Virginia Bluebells
- Eastern Redbud
- Sensitive Fern
- Switchgrass
- Butterfly Weed
- Brown-Eyed Susan
- Gray-Headed Coneflower
- Stiff Goldenrod
- Blackhaw
- Cardinal Flower
- Southern Blue Flag
- Wild Ginger
- Common Sneezeweed
- Creeping Jacob's Ladder
- Eastern Red Columbine
- Flava (Yellow Trumpet)
- Golden Alexanders
- Rattlesnake Master
- Trumpet Vine
- Common Pawpaw
- Christmas Fern
- Garden Phlox
- Pin Oak
- Pale Purple Coneflower
- Blue Wood Aster
- Prairie Blazing Star
- Purple Prairie Clover
- Pennsylvania Sedge
- American Hornbeam
- Lady Fern
- Kentucky Coffeetree
- Silky Dogwood
- Downy Serviceberry
- Leadplant
- Common Persimmon
- River Birch
- Swamp White Oak
- Blue Mistflower
- Prairie Junegrass
- Gray's Sedge
- Smooth Blue Aster
- Flowering Dogwood
- Smooth Hydrangea
- Zigzag Goldenrod
- Chokecherry
- Goatsbeard
- Sideoats Grama
- White-Tinged Sedge
- American Alumroot
- Fragrant Sumac
- Northern Sea Oats
- Spicebush
- Eastern Bluestar
- Golden Ragwort
- White Turtlehead
- Palm Sedge
- Prairie Dropseed Grass
- Common Pussy Willow
- Shrubby St. John's Wort
- Spotted Joe Pye Weed
- Purple Coneflower
- Redosier Dogwood
- Aromatic Aster
- Possumhaw Holly
- Quaking Aspen
- Red Maple
- Soft Rush
- Arrowwood
- Blue-Stemmed Goldenrod
- Hardy Hibiscus
- Nannyberry Viburnum
- Pagoda Dogwood
- Black Gum
- Marginal Wood Fern
- Royal Fern
- Sweetgum
- Ninebark
- Cinnamon Fern
- Staghorn Sumac
- Tulip Tree
- Common Witch Hazel
- Dense Blazing Star
- Long-Beaked Sedge
- Woodland Stonecrop
- Hollow Joe Pye Weed
- Winterberry
- American Cranberrybush Viburnum
- Allegheny Serviceberry
- Perennial Black-Eyed Susan
- Queen of the Prairie
- Bald Cypress
- Crossvine
- Indian Pink
- Northern Bush Honeysuckle
- Roundleaf Ragwort
- Black Chokeberry
- Nodding Onion
- Mapleleaf Viburnum
- Ostrich Fern
- Bristleleaf Sedge
- Celandine Poppy
- Texas Sedge
- Mexican Hat
- Brome-Like Sedge
- Buffalograss
- Common Snowberry
- Eastern White Pine
- Prairie Smoke
- Black Cohosh
- Potentilla
- Red Buckeye
- Red Elderberry
- Tufted Hairgrass
- Cucumbertree Magnolia
- Dwarf Crested Iris
- Kinnikinnick
- Paper Birch
- Virginia Sweetspire
- Arborvitae
- Bunchberry
- Common Blue Grama Grass
- Pink Muhly Grass
- Willow Oak
- American Wintergreen
- Hay Scented Fern
- Swamp Sunflower
- Clustered Mountain Mint
- Kalm's St. John's Wort
- American Holly
- Dotted Blazing Star
- Pinxterbloom Azalea
Garden forms of Illinois natives
133 garden forms, each a named selection of a species that grows wild in Illinois and each naming its wild parent. A garden form is not the wild plant, so it is listed here and never counted above.
- Abbotswood
- Alba Gayfeather
- Alma Pötschke
- Alpine Carpet Juniper
- Amber Jubilee
- Amethyst Falls Wisteria
- Annabelle
- Appalachian Red
- Aquavita Juniper
- Arctic Fire Red Twig Dogwood
- Arctic Fire Yellow Dogwood
- Athena Gold False Sunflower
- Autumn Colors
- Baby Joe Dwarf Joe Pye Weed
- Bailey Compact American Cranberrybush
- Bar Harbor Juniper
- Berry Heavy
- Berry Poppins
- Blackhawks Big Bluestem
- Blackjack Gold Black-Eyed Susan
- Blaze
- Blonde Ambition Blue Grama Grass
- Blue Blaze Viburnum
- Blue Chip Juniper
- Blue Moon Wisteria
- Blue Moon Woodland Phlox
- Blue Muffin Viburnum
- Blue Paradise
- Blue Rug Juniper
- Bright Eyes
- Bubblegum Pink Garden Phlox
- Bunny Blue Sedge
- Cheer Drops Arborvitae
- Cherokee Brave
- Cherokee Chief
- Cherokee Princess
- Cherry Berries Wintergreen
- Cherry Brandy
- Claire Grace
- Cloud Nine
- Cobalt-n-Gold Hypericum
- Coconut Lime
- Columnar White Pine
- Compact Andorra Juniper
- Coppertina
- Coral Flame
- Crimson Comet Buttonbush
- Crimson Trumpet
- Dakota Burgundy Beardtongue
- Danica
- David
- DeGroot's Spire
- Denver Daisy
- Deschampsia Goldtau Grass
- Diabolo
- DreamScape Hydrangea
- Dressed To Thrill Crossvine
- Dwarf White Pine
- Emerald Green
- Falling Waters
- Fire Chief
- Fireworks Goldenrod
- Flame Thrower
- Forest Pansy
- Golden Globe
- Goldfinger
- Goldilocks
- Goldsturm
- Green Jewel
- Gro-Low Fragrant Sumac
- Happy Face Yellow
- Hearts of Gold
- Heavy Metal
- Henry's Garnet Sweetspire
- Holmstrup
- Incrediball Hydrangea
- Indian Summer
- Invincibelle Spirit II Hydrangea
- Jeana
- Laura
- Lavender Twist
- Lemony Lace Elderberry
- Little Devil
- Little Henry Sweetspire
- Luminary Ultraviolet
- Luna Pink Swirl
- Luna White
- Magnus
- Mango Tango
- McKay's White
- New England Aster 'Barr's Pink'
- New England Aster 'Harrington's Pink'
- Nicky
- Northwind
- Nugget
- October Skies
- Orange Perfection
- Orange Whisper
- Peve Minaret
- Pink Beauty
- Pink Double Delight
- Pink Whisper
- PowWow Wild Berry
- Prairie Sun
- Purple Dome
- Purple Phlox
- Raydon's Favorite
- Red Ace
- Red Sprite
- Rheingold
- River Mist
- Robert Poore
- Royal White Redbud
- Ruby Falls
- Shawnee Brave
- Shenandoah
- Snow Flurry
- Starfire
- Sugar Shack Buttonbush
- Summer Wine
- Sunny Boulevard St. John's Wort
- Tangerine
- Techny
- The Rising Sun
- Tiger Eyes Sumac
- Tiny Wine
- Toto Gold
- Twilight Zone
- Weeping White Pine
- White Flame
- White Swan
- Winter Gold
- Winter Red
Plant groups native to Illinois
19 plant groups sold under one name whose wild species grow in Illinois; the count beside each is how many of its wild species the record finds in the state.
Keep exploring
Growing natives in Illinois
This list is the library's cut of Illinois's flora, not a planting guide. For sources, plant sales and local advice, Illinois has its own native plant society, the Illinois Native Plant Society, and its extension office, University of Illinois Extension; both are linked below and neither is connected to BloomsEye.
Native to your own county
This page is the whole state. In the free garden planner, enter your ZIP and Garden Check lists these same plants for your location, marks the ones recorded growing wild in your county, and places any of them in your plan; its Browse tab answers for any of the 65 states, provinces and territories with no account.
Design your garden
Drop plants onto a 3D plan, see how they fill in, and watch the whole garden bloom across the year.