Field Guide

Wildflowers, Grasses and Other Nonwoody Plants

Showing 1 - 10 of 12 results
Photo of American pondweed leaves floating on water surface
Pondweeds
Potamogeton spp.
Pondweeds are rooted aquatic plants with underwater leaves on long, flexible, jointed stems. Some have floating leaves, too, that are differently shaped. Missouri has about 10 species in the pondweed genus.
Photo of chara, an alga with stemlike and leaflike structures
Chara (Muskgrass; Stonewort)
Chara spp.
These aquatic algae look like regular vascular plants. Chara has a crisp, gritty texture, a musky odor, and gray-green, needlelike structures that resemble leaves.
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 several reed canary grass plants with flowering heads
Reed Canary Grass
Phalaris arundinacea
Reed canary grass is native to Europe, Asia, and North America, and it varies quite a bit. Our native Missouri version, for instance, is quite different from the Eurasian type that has been widely introduced — and which has proven to be highly invasive.
Photo of path rush, closeup showing drying fruits.
Rushes
Juncus spp. and Luzula spp.
Missouri has 24 species in the rush family. Distinguishing between these grasslike plants can be tricky, but it’s easy to learn some basics about the group.
Photo of eastern woodland sedge plant growing among leaf litter.
Sedges
Carex, Schoenoplectus, Scirpus, and other genera
Missouri has more than 200 species in the sedge family. Distinguishing between these grasslike plants can be difficult, but it’s easy to learn some basics about the group.
River oats flowers, stem, and leaves
River Oats
Chasmanthium latifolium
River oats is a native cool-season grass that is common nearly statewide in bottomlands, stream valleys, and other moist places. The open, nodding, flattened flower and seed clusters are distinctive.
Stand of switchgrass in a prairie in late summer
Switchgrass
Panicum virgatum
Switchgrass is a native perennial, warm-season, clump-forming mid or tall grass. In midsummer, delicate-looking, open, multiply-branching flowering clusters rise above the foliage.
Prairie cordgrass growing against a blue sky
Prairie Cordgrass
Spartina pectinata
Prairie cordgrass is a native perennial sod-forming grass with flowering stalks up to 7 feet tall. A grassland species, it grows in dense stands in low, damp soils. It’s often called ripgut because of the tiny sharp saw teeth on the leaf edges.
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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!