Field Guide

The interesting, bright yellow flowers of showy partridge pea are immediately recognizable. At night, the leaflets close and pull upward into a sleeping position.

Many Missouri children learn about this orange-flowered native plant by playing with the juicy green seedpods, which, when ripe, "explode" upon the slightest touch. This is jewelweed's mechanism for seed dispersal, and it's the reason for the name "touch-me-not."

Our two Missouri jewelweeds occur in the same habitats, often side by side, and even botanists can’t tell them apart without the flowers. Pale touch-me-not is the one with the lemon-yellow flowers!

These two species of sweet clover are present all over America. Although they have been planted for forage, as bee plants, and as nitrogen-fixers, white and yellow sweet clover are now classified as invasive for their weediness and the problems they pose for natural habitats.

Pencil flower is small and often overlooked. It has wiry stems, long, bristly hairs, three-parted leaves, and orangish-yellow flowers.

Decades ago, sericea lespedeza was introduced in hopes it would provide hay, improve pastures, stop soil erosion, and supply food and cover for wildlife. Unfortunately, it has proven to be an aggressive, invasive weed that is extremely difficult to control, escapes cultivation, and outcompetes native plants.

There are 23 species of goldenrods in Missouri. They can be hard to identify to species, but as a group, the goldenrods are common and nearly unmistakable.

Pinesap is a plant that puts the "wild" in wildflower! It lacks chlorophyll, so its roots connect to fungi underground and absorb nutrients from the fungi.

Similar to kudzu, Chinese yam is an aggressive vine that overtakes nearly everything within reach that stands still long enough! Learn more about this invasive plant — and please don’t plant it!

A native wildflower of forests, blufftops, glades, pastures, and roadsides, beaked hawkweed looks something like a hairy, yellow-flowering chicory. It is found mostly south of the Missouri River.