State or province

Iowa

Iowa, United States of America: 3 ecoregions. Each with its climate now and toward 2050, and its conservation tier.

Landscape and climate

Three ecoregions reach Iowa, and two of them are in the Nature Imperiled tier. The Central Tallgrass prairie covers most of the state, the Central US forest-grasslands transition the south, and the Upper Midwest US forest-savanna transition the northeast. Iowa is the clearest case in the country of a state that was almost entirely one thing and is now almost entirely another: tallgrass prairie converted to row crop at a rate that leaves well under one percent of the original intact. Anything planted here that carries prairie species is doing disproportionate work. Deep-rooted grasses and forbs also suit the soil they built, which is the practical argument on top of the ecological one.

Native plants of Iowa

Species in the catalog recorded as native to Iowa, each with its climate-fit grade and planting guidance.

Allegheny blackberry American arborvitae American basswood American elderberry American hazelnut American hophornbeam American persimmon American plum American red raspberry American sycamore Anise hyssop Aromatic aster Arrowwood viburnum Balsam fir Big bluestem Black cherry Black chokeberry Black oak Black walnut Black willow Black-eyed Susan Blackhaw viburnum Bloodroot Blue false indigo Blue flag iris Blue grama Blue vervain Boneset Boxelder Bur oak Butterfly weed Canada anemone Canada goldenrod Cardinal flower Chinkapin oak Chokecherry Christmas fern Common blue violet Common hackberry Common hops Common juniper Common milkweed Common ninebark Common sunflower Common witch hazel Common yarrow Creeping juniper Cutleaf coneflower Eastern cottonwood Eastern prickly pear Eastern red cedar Eastern redbud Eastern white pine Foxglove beardtongue Golden alexanders Gray dogwood Groundnut Honey locust Indian grass Lady fern Lanceleaf coreopsis Largeflower tickseed Little bluestem Marginal wood fern Mayapple Nannyberry Narrow-leaved coneflower New England aster New Jersey tea Northern maidenhair fern Northern red oak Ohio buckeye Ostrich fern Pagoda dogwood Pale purple coneflower Paper birch Pawpaw Pecan Plains coreopsis Post oak Prairie dropseed Prairie ironweed Prairie smoke Purple coneflower Pussy willow Quaking aspen Ramps Red maple Red mulberry Red-osier dogwood River birch River oats Sassafras Scarlet bee balm Shagbark hickory Side-oats grama Silky dogwood Silver maple Smooth blue aster Soapweed yucca Spotted Joe-Pye weed Stiff goldenrod Sugar maple Sunchoke Swamp milkweed Swamp white oak Sweet Joe-Pye weed Switchgrass Trumpet honeysuckle Tulip tree (yellow poplar)Virginia bluebells Virginia iris White oak Whorled milkweed Wild bergamot Wild geranium Wild lupine Wild strawberry Woodland phlox Yellow birch

Country

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United States of America

Ecoregions here

Central Tallgrass prairie Central US forest-grasslands transition Upper Midwest US forest-savanna transition