Field Guide

Lowbush blueberry is a stiffly branching shrub to 3 feet high. The berries are tasty raw or cooked in pies, muffins, and preserves. It is mostly found south of the Missouri River. It often grows in extensive colonies.

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.

Eastern leatherwood is a native shrub of bottomlands, stream banks, and bases of bluffs. It has unusual little dangling yellow flowers, and its twigs are surprisingly flexible.

In Missouri, Ashe’s juniper is uncommon and only found in a few southwestern counties; our populations represent the northeastern tip of its range. Here, it is much less widespread than its close relative eastern red cedar.

Missouri has five species of maples that are either native or naturalized, plus several that are known only in cultivation. Maples are important members of native ecosystems. They also provide stunning fall color, welcome shade in summer, commercially important lumber, and sap for syrup.

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.

Water tupelo, or tupelo gum, is a large tree with a large, swollen, sometimes buttressed base, a tapering trunk, and a flattened, spreading crown. It and bald cypress are the dominant trees in Missouri’s Bootheel swamps.

Carolina buckthorn occurs in the southeastern half of Missouri. It’s a shrub with several main stems, or a small tree potentially reaching 40 feet high, with a trunk diameter of up to 8 inches. Despite the name, there are no thorns.