Field Guide

Wildflowers, Grasses and Other Nonwoody Plants

Showing 1 - 6 of 6 results
Photo of common scouring rush, many stems in a colony
Horsetails (Scouring Rushes)
Equisetum (3 spp. in Missouri)
Horsetails, or scouring rushes, are in the genus Equisetum. They’re easy to recognize with their jointed, hollow stems. Like ferns, they reproduce via spores instead of flowers and seeds.
Photo of a sensitive fern, vegetative leaf
Sensitive Fern
Onoclea sensibilis
The leaves of sensitive fern usually wither quickly upon the first frost, leaving the upright, beadlike, spore-bearing spikes to be noticeable.
Walking fern colony growing on a boulder at Clifty Creek CA showing numerous long tapering fronds
Walking Fern
Asplenium rhizophyllum (syn. Camptosorus rhyzophyllus)
One of Missouri’s most distinctive ferns, walking fern walks. Its long, triangular leaves take root at the elongated tips, forming new plantlets.
Photo of a broad beech fern
Broad Beech Fern
Phegopteris hexagonoptera
Broad beech fern has broadly triangular leaves that tilt backward from their long, upright stalks. Wings of leafy tissue connect the main leaf lobes along the main axis, and the bottommost lobes usually point downward.
Photo of an Engelmann’s adder’s tongue with a black background
Adder's Tongues
Ophioglossum spp.
Four species of adder’s tongue ferns occur in Missouri. They don’t look like typical ferns. They have spoon-shaped leaves and an upright spore-bearing stalk.
Photo of Mexican mosquito fern plants on a pond surface, surrounded by duckweed
Mexican Mosquito Fern
Azolla mexicana
Scooping up a handful of mosquito fern reveals it to be a mass of tiny ferns, each smaller than a dime, and consisting of many small, overlapping leaves arranged around a central stalk, with a single rootlet dangling from the plant base.
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About Wildflowers, Grasses and Other Nonwoody Plants in Missouri

A very simple way of thinking about the green world is to divide the vascular plants into two groups: woody and nonwoody (or herbaceous). But this is an artificial division; many plant families include some species that are woody and some that are not. The diversity of nonwoody vascular plants is staggering! Think of all the ferns, grasses, sedges, lilies, peas, sunflowers, nightshades, milkweeds, mustards, mints, and mallows — weeds and wildflowers — and many more!