Field Guide

Wildflowers, Grasses and Other Nonwoody Plants

Showing 1 - 10 of 11 results
Photo of moth mullein flowers
Moth Mullein
Verbascum blattaria
Moth mullein is a native of Eurasia introduced to our continent in the early 1800s. Since then, it has spread across North America. It’s named because the fuzzy flower, with 2 antennalike stamens, looks something like a moth.
Photo of dwarf larkspur flowers with leaf
Dwarf Larkspur
Delphinium tricorne
Dwarf larkspur is a single-stemmed perennial with an upright flower stalk bearing racemes of bluish-purple flowers. Like other larkspurs, there is a spurlike appendage behind each flower.
Photo of common ladies' tresses, flower stalk with spiral flower arrangement
Nodding Ladies’ Tresses
Spiranthes cernua
Nodding ladies’ tresses is the most common of Missouri’s eight species of ladies' tresses. The flowers are arranged in a spiral pattern on the upright flowering stem. Each small flower is a little white orchid.
Photo of viper’s bugloss, closeup of flower
Viper's Bugloss
Echium vulgare
A biennial plant with bristly hairs and usually with single stems, viper’s bugloss can grow 2½ feet tall. The flowers are pink in bud, blue to ultramarine later. The protruding stamens are pink.
Image of Johnny-jump-up.
Johnny-Jump-Up (Field Pansy)
Viola bicolor
Johnny-jump-up is a flat-faced violet whose small flowers are a washed-out blue or violet with a very light yellow or white center. Look for it in fields, meadows, glades, rights-of-way, disturbed sites, and possibly your front lawn.
Photo of common violet plant with flowers
Violets
Viola spp.
Violets, as a group, are fairly easy to identify, with their colorful five-petaled “faces” so welcome in springtime. Missouri has 17 species, and some are confusingly similar. This page introduces them as a group.
Longleaf mud plantain plants in bloom with purple flowers
Mud Plantains
Heteranthera spp.
Mud plantains have glossy, rounded or kidney-shaped leaves and purple or white flowers that have six petal lobes. One petal lobe points downward. They typically grow as emergent aquatic shoreline plants.
Pink flowers
Showy Lady's Slipper
Cypripedium reginae
Showy lady’s slipper is a beautiful and rare wildflower. This orchid can be more than 3 feet tall, with showy flowers with a pink-suffused, inflated lower lip. In Missouri, it's restricted to the southern portion of the Ozarks.
Orchid
Showy Orchis
Galearis spectabilis (formerly Orchis spectabilis)
Showy orchis is a perennial wildflower of rich, moist, shady woods, slopes, ravines, and stream valleys, often found with other spring wildflowers. It’s about 6 inches tall when it produces its beautiful pink and white flowers.
Orchid
Spring Ladies' Tresses
Spiranthes vernalis
Spring ladies’ tresses is Missouri’s tallest species of spiranthes orchid. It’s one of four species that have their flower clusters in a single, easy-to-discern spiral, but another key feature is that it blooms as early as June and July.
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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!