Field Guide

Wildflowers, Grasses and Other Nonwoody Plants

Showing 41 - 50 of 89 results
Photo of leaf cup flower
Pale-Flowered Leaf Cup
Polymnia canadensis
Leaf cup is named for the leafy appendages that wrap around the stem at the bases of the opposite leaves. Part of the sunflower family, leaf cup has about 8 white ray florets surrounding yellow disk florets.
Photo of a Queen Anne's lace flower cluster, seen from the top
Queen Anne’s Lace (Wild Carrot)
Daucus carota
Queen Anne’s lace is many things to many people — roadside wildflower, noxious introduced weed, wild edible, medicinal herb, delightful cut flower. In Missouri, it blooms May through October.
Photo of Johnson grass flower clusters
Johnson Grass
Sorghum halepense
Johnson grass is a native of the Mediterranean that is invasive in our country. It’s a weed that infests cropland and degrades native ecosystems, and heavy infestations are found in all the major river bottoms of Missouri.
Photo of several big bluestem seed heads against a blue sky.
Grasses
All true grasses (species in the grass family)
Missouri has 276 species in the grass family, including well-known crop plants and our native prairie grasses. Distinguishing between the species can be difficult, but it’s easy to learn some basics about the group.
Photo of Indian grass flower head in bloom
Indian Grass
Sorghastrum nutans
Indian grass is a native perennial bunch grass with flowering stalks up to 7 feet tall. The golden seed heads are plumelike, with twisted awns. It occurs nearly statewide and is an important component of native prairies and glades.
Photo of little bluestem mature seed head
Little Bluestem
Schizachyrium scoparium
Little bluestem is a native perennial bunch grass with flowering stalks 1–4 feet tall. In fall, the leaves turn coppery. It occurs statewide and is an important component of native prairies and glades.
Photo of downy skullcap flower clusters
Downy Skullcap
Scutellaria incana
Showy clusters of blue-violet, two-lipped flowers adorn downy skullcap. This native mint is found mostly in the southern half of the state.
Photo of American feverfew flower cluster.
American Feverfew
Parthenium integrifolium
A common component of high-quality upland prairie, American feverfew, or wild quinine, is a native wildflower that was used to treat fevers or malaria. It's in the composite family.
Photo of false garlic flowers
False Garlic
Nothoscordum bivalve
False garlic looks like a wild garlic or onion plant, but it doesn’t smell like one. The flowers can be white, yellowish, or greenish, and they appear in spring and sometimes also fall.
Tick trefoil plant with flowers
Tick Trefoils (Sticktights; Beggar's Lice)
Desmodium spp. (17 species in Missouri)
Missouri has 17 species of tick trefoils, which live in a variety of habitats. Hikers know them well from their chains of hairy little seedpods that stick to clothing like parasites!
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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!