Trees, Shrubs and Woody Vines
Media
![Photo of a heavenly bamboo, nandina, plant growing in the woods.](/sites/default/files/styles/media_library/public/mo_nature/media/field-guide/Heavenly_Bamboo_Nandina_6-29-16.jpg?itok=QkfBAA4d)
Species Types
Scientific Name
Nandina domestica
Description
Heavenly bamboo is hardly “heavenly” when it comes to its negative effects on our native plants and animals. A tremendously popular landscaping plant, it readily escapes and is difficult to eradicate.
Media
![Illustration of raccoon grape leaves, flowers, fruit](/sites/default/files/styles/media_library/public/mo_nature/media/field-guide/Raccoon_Grape_Ampelopsis_cordata.jpg?itok=1qXTWqQs)
Species Types
Scientific Name
Ampelopsis cordata
Description
Raccoon grape is a woody vine climbing by tendrils to a length of 60 feet. The most aggressive native vine in the state, it can smother small- to medium-sized trees.
Media
![Illustration of peppervine leaves, flowers, fruit](/sites/default/files/styles/media_library/public/mo_nature/media/field-guide/Peppervine_Ampelopsis_arborea.jpg?itok=Y35MNzoJ)
Species Types
Scientific Name
Ampelopsis arborea
Description
Peppervine is a rather slender, upright vine, either high-climbing or bushy, tendrils present or absent. It favors wet or moist, low, wooded areas in southern and eastern Missouri.
Media
![Illustration of common elderberry leaves, flowers, fruits](/sites/default/files/styles/media_library/public/mo_nature/media/field-guide/Common_Elderberry_Sambucus_canadensis.jpg?itok=1MzkS5oL)
Species Types
Scientific Name
Sambucus canadensis
Description
Common elderberry is a colony-forming shrub with opposite compound leaves. Its large, flattened clusters of small white flowers produce purple or black berrylike fruits.
Media
![Illustration of red-berried elderberry leaves, flowers, fruits](/sites/default/files/styles/media_library/public/mo_nature/media/field-guide/Red-berried_elderberry_Sambucus_pubens.jpg?itok=qynBmOE-)
Species Types
Scientific Name
Sambucus pubens
Description
Red-berried elderberry reaches 24 feet in height and does not form colonies. Its white flowers, and later, red berries, are in pyramidal clusters. In Missouri, it’s known only from Marion County.
Media
![Illustration of multiflora rose, leaves, flowers, fruits.](/sites/default/files/styles/media_library/public/mo_nature/media/field-guide/Multiflora_Rose_Rosa_multiflora.jpg?itok=HfXV4hwr)
Species Types
Scientific Name
Rosa multiflora
Description
Starting more than a century ago, this nonnative rose was planted across America — for many good reasons — but multiflora rose has proven to be invasive, and now the goal is to stop its spread.
Media
![Illustration of prairie rose leaves, flowers, fruits.](/sites/default/files/styles/media_library/public/mo_nature/media/field-guide/Prairie_Rose_Rosa_setigera.jpg?itok=KDVosXFF)
Species Types
Scientific Name
Rosa setigera
Description
Also called climbing rose, prairie rose is most common near woodlands, where it climbs and trails on neighboring shrubs and small trees.
Media
![Illustration of dewberry leaves, flowers, fruits.](/sites/default/files/styles/media_library/public/mo_nature/media/images/2015/01/dewberry_rubus_flagellaris.jpg?itok=ckOGU324)
Species Types
Scientific Name
Rubus flagellaris
Description
Dewberry is a lot like common blackberry, except that instead of being a small shrub, its canes form trailing woody vines. Both plants are prickly, and both produce delicious deep purple berries!
Media
![Illustration of common blackberry leaves, flowers, fruits.](/sites/default/files/styles/media_library/public/mo_nature/media/images/2015/01/common_blackberry_rubus_allegheniensis.jpg?itok=WrfFZrRQ)
Species Types
Scientific Name
Rubus allegheniensis
Description
Common blackberry is only one of several species of blackberry in our state. It grows in rocky, open woods, along bluffs and fencerows, on glades, and in thickets, old fields, and open valleys nearly statewide.
Media
![Illustration of lead plant stem, leaves, flower clusters, flowers, fruit.](/sites/default/files/styles/media_library/public/mo_nature/media/field-guide/Lead_Plant_Amorpha_canescens.jpg?itok=VnOJL0TJ)
Species Types
Scientific Name
Amorpha canescens
Description
Lead plant is a densely hairy small shrub producing tight, elongated spikes of small purple flowers from May through August. It grows in prairies, glades, and savannas.
See Also
About Trees, Shrubs and Woody Vines in Missouri
There are no sharp dividing lines between trees, shrubs, and woody vines, or even between woody and nonwoody plants. “Wood” is a type of tissue made of cellulose and lignin that many plants develop as they mature — whether they are “woody” or not. Trees are woody plants over 13 feet tall with a single trunk. Shrubs are less than 13 feet tall, with multiple stems. Vines require support or else sprawl over the ground.