• Southwestern Oregon boasts more rainfall and expansive woodlands.Caroline Woodham/Digital Vision/Getty Images
  
  When it comes to vegetation and climate in Oregon, often the discussion compares western with eastern counties since western Oregon is influenced by the Pacific Ocean and the eastern mountains colder and more arid. Likewise, to speak only of native plants in southern Oregon, two different regimes exist: milder and wetter in the southwest and colder and less moisture in the mountainous southeast. Southeast Oregon comprises counties like Malheur, Harney and Lake while southwestern areas center around Coos, Curry, Douglas and Jackson counties.
  
  

Southwestern Native Woody Plants

• The interactive mapping service of Plant Maps' website displays several native ranges of Oregon trees and shrubs. In the forests of southwestern Oregon, western serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia), red osier (Cornus stolonifera), ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa), bitter cherry (Prunus emarginata), chokecherry (Prunus virginiana), Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and Pacific willow (Salix lasiandra) grow. Curl leaf (Cercocarpus ledifolius) is native to this area as well as to south-central and isolated areas of southeastern Oregon, too.
  
  

Southwestern Native Wildflowers

• Federally listed endangered wildflowers native to Oregon's southwestern coastal and forested counties are listed on the Oregon Department of Agriculture website. This means these plants remain but with danger of extinction. McDonald's rock cress (Arabis macdonaldiana), Applegate's milk-vetch (Astragalus applegatei), Gentner's fritillary (Fritillaria gentneri), western lily (Lilium occidentale) and rough popcorn flower (Plagiobothrys hirtus) are among those plants rarely found in southern Oregon today. Siskiyou mariposa lily (Calochortus persistens) numbers are also dwindling so that it may soon be included as a federal endangered plant species. Flora of North America also lists Hitchcock's blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium hitchcockii) as native to this region.
  
  

Southeastern Native Trees

• Big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) is widespread across southeastern Oregon based on a distribution map supplied by the Plant Maps website. Curl leaf grows in isolated pockets across south-central and southwestern parts of Oregon, so it's best labeled a tree species native to a wide extent of southern Oregon. Likewise, western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis) exists in both south-central and southeastern parts of the state.
  
  

Southeastern Native Wildflowers

• In stark contrast to the Oregon Department of Agriculture's list of endangered species for southwestern Oregon, only one species is endangered for the southeastern parts of the state. Malheur wire-lettuce (Stephanomeria malheurensis) appropriately grows in the northern reaches of Malheur County.