Content tagged with "Wildflowers, Grasses and Other Nonwoody Plants"

Bloodroot

image of bloodroot.
Sanguinaria canadensis
This early spring wildflower’s pure white petals are even more remarkable given the plant’s bright red sap. This feature, plus the unique leaf shape, make this plant hard to misidentify. More

Blue Cardinal Flower (Great Lobelia; Blue Lobelia)

Lobelia siphilitica
A showy, late-blooming native wildflower that grows along streams, ditches, sloughs and other wet places, blue lobelia has blue or purple tubular flowers with 2 upper lips and 3 lower lips. More

Blue Phlox (Wild Sweet William)

Image of blue phlox (wild sweet William)
Phlox divaricata
A common, eye-catching native spring wildflower, blue phlox is found nearly statewide. More

Blue Vervain

Verbena hastata
A tall, slender, erect perennial with branching stems and rough hairs. Flowers in many terminal spikes, deep purple, violet, light lavender or rarely white. The flowers are tubular, 5-lobed, opening from the base of the spikes upward. More

Blue-Eyed Grass

Sisyrinchium campestre
It has grasslike leaves, but it's not a grass. In fact, it's in the same family as the common garden iris! Four species of blue-eyed grass grow in Missouri, and this one, often found on prairies, glades and pastures, is the most common. More

Blue-Eyed Mary

Image of blue-eyed Mary
Collinsia verna
The flowers of this species are only about a half inch wide, but blue-eyed Mary makes up for it by usually appearing in abundance, covering a patch of forest floor with little sky-blue and white "faces." More

Bluebells (Virginia Cowslip)

Image of bluebells
Mertensia virginica
One of our most stunning early spring wildflowers, bluebells is also a popular native plant for gardening. As with all native plant gardening, make sure you get your plants from ethical sources. More

Bull Thistle

Cirsium vulgare
Bull thistle is a weedy introduction from Europe, found statewide. To tell it from our other thistles, note its stems with spiny-margined wings, and its leaves with the upper surface strongly roughened with stiff, spiny bristles. More

Butterfly Pea

Clitoria mariana
A low, shrubby or twining perennial in the pea family, with showy, butterfly-like flowers. The leaves are compound with three leaflets. This species grows in the southern parts of Missouri, in acid soils. More

Butterfly Weed

Asclepias tuberosa
In case the name doesn't make it clear, this milkweed is a favorite nectar plant for butterflies, and the leaves are eaten by the caterpillars of monarch butterflies. One of our showiest native wildflowers, it is also a favorite of gardeners. More