Field Guide

Buckbrush, or coralberry, grows throughout Missouri. This familiar thicket-forming shrub bears dense clusters of pinkish-red berries that persist through most of the winter.

Prickly gooseberry occurs mostly in the eastern half of Missouri. Its spine-covered berries turn reddish purple when ripe. Despite the prickles, they are edible.

Deerberry is an irregularly branched shrub, rarely more than 6 feet high. A blueberry relative, it bears edible blue fruits.

Farkleberry, or sparkleberry, is a stiff-branched shrub or small crooked tree growing in loose thickets on rocky soils, mostly south of the Missouri River. A type of blueberry, its black fruits are edible but dry and mealy.

Woolly pipe-vine is a high-climbing woody vine common along streams in the Ozarks. Hikers and canoeists often don’t notice it because the leaves and unusual flowers are usually high overhead in the trees.

Carolina moonseed is a slender, twining vine. It is scattered in southern and eastern Missouri. It bears clusters of bright red, somewhat flattened fruits. The disk-shaped seeds are spiraled like a snail shell.

Common moonseed is a rather slender, twining vine that climbs or sprawls. It occurs nearly statewide. It bears clusters of bluish-black fruits. The seeds are flattened, with a raised edge shaped like a crescent moon.

Cupseed is a relatively stout, robust twining vine that dies back to the ground in severe winters. It is scattered south of the Missouri River. It bears clusters of black fruits. The seeds are shaped like little cups.

American beautyberry is a many-branched shrub that bears attractive rounded clusters of purple berrylike fruits in the axils of the leaves in late summer and fall. A critically imperiled species in Missouri, it is also a popular native shrub for landscaping.

Burning bush, or winged euonymus, is a nonnative shrub that has been very popular in landscaping for its bright red fall foliage. But it is invasive and spreads aggressively into natural habitats, displacing native species.