Field Guide

Wildflowers, Grasses and Other Nonwoody Plants

Showing 1 - 7 of 7 results
Photo of tall thistle plants with flowers
Tall Thistle
Cirsium altissimum
Tall thistle is a native thistle that can grow to be 10 feet tall! To identify it, notice its leaves, which are unlobed (though they may be wavy or have only shallow, broad lobes), are felty-hairy beneath, and have prickles only along the edges.
Photo of elephant's foot closeup of flowers
Elephant's Foot
Elephantopus carolinianus
You may not recognize elephant’s foot as a member of the daisy or sunflower family because it lacks petal-like ray florets. Also, it has unusual, doubly compound flower clusters. And how did it get its name, anyway?
Photo of white heath aster flowers
White Heath Aster
Symphyotrichum pilosum (formerly Aster pilosus)
White heath aster is one of Missouri's most widespread and weedy native asters. It grows in uplands, bottomlands, and nearly all habitats in between. It has a shrubby, wide-branching habit, and the stem leaves are thin and needlelike.
A cluster of white flowers with pink-tinged tips around a yellow daisylike center.
Philadelphia Fleabane
Erigeron philadelphicus
The antique belief that this plant might repel fleas gives the fleabanes their name. There are more than 170 fleabanes in the genus Erigeron in North America. This one is scattered to common nearly throughout Missouri. Native Americans used this species medicinally for a variety of ailments.
Photo of pale Indian plantain flower clusters.
Pale Indian Plantain
Arnoglossum atriplicifolium (also Cacalia atriplicifolia)
The stout, smooth leaves of pale Indian plantain, with their glaucous-white coating beneath, look almost artificial. They are irregularly shaped, with pointed lobes. At the base of the plant, they can be 6 inches wide. They become gradually smaller up the stem.
Closeup of single flowerhead of a New World aster with yellow disk florets and lavender ray florets
New World Asters (American Asters)
Symphyotrichum spp. (formerly Aster spp.)
Missouri has 24 species of New World asters in genus Symphyotrichum. Most have purple or white ray flowers and yellow disk flowers that turn reddish over time. Most bloom in late summer and fall.
Photo of common boneset plant flower clusters.
Thoroughworts (Bonesets)
Eupatorium spp.
Nine white-flowering species of thoroughworts, or bonesets, have been recorded for Missouri. They have rounded flower clusters that look rather fuzzy, because each little composite flowerhead lacks petal-like ray florets.
See Also

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!