Field Guide

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.

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.

Common prickly ash is a thicket-forming shrub or small tree. Its compound leaves resemble of those of ash trees, but it’s in a different family. Pairs of stout, curved prickles occur at each node. Scattered statewide, but less common in the Ozarks.

American smoke tree is a tall shrub to small tree whose unusual flower stalks look like smoke from a distance. In Missouri it occurs naturally in the western Ozarks, but people use it in landscaping statewide.

White fringe tree is a shrub or small tree that is native to southwest and southeast Missouri. Its fragrant, showy clusters of white, drooping, fringe-like flowers make it a popular for landscaping.

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.

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.

Four species of privets occur in Missouri, all are nonnative, and all are considered invasive or potentially invasive. When they invade natural habitats, they can form dense thickets that crowd out native vegetation.

Swamp privet is a straggly shrub or small tree growing in wet to swampy ground. It is quite noticeable in early spring, with the clusters of yellow flowers and bracts appearing along the gray branches before the leaves come out. In this way, it is similar in aspect to spicebush.

Giant cane is Missouri’s native species of bamboo. It is scattered mostly in our southernmost counties and the Bootheel. In its low, moist habitats, it sometimes forms canebrakes — dense, nearly pure thickets.