Field Guide

Wildflowers, Grasses and Other Nonwoody Plants

Showing 1 - 10 of 171 results
Photo of eastern gama grass flowering plant
Eastern Gama Grass
Tripsacum dactyloides
Eastern gama grass is a native perennial bunch grass with flowering stalks up to 8 feet tall. The fingerlike seed heads have separate male and female florets. The seed-bearing, female florets are in the lower portion of each spike. It occurs statewide and is an important component of native prairies and glades.
Photo of sideoats grama, closeup on floral spikes showing orange anthers.
Sideoats Grama
Bouteloua curtipendula
Sideoats grama is a native perennial clump-forming grass with flowering stalks 1–3 feet tall. The oatlike seeds dangle uniformly in two rows on one side of the flattened stalk. It occurs nearly statewide.
Photo of Japanese stiltgrass
Japanese Stiltgrass (Eulalia)
Microstegium vimineum
Japanese stiltgrass is an invasive annual grass with thin, pale green, lance-shaped leaves that are 3 inches long. It has spread to nearly every eastern U.S. state. It forms dense patches, displacing and outcompeting native species for nutrients and light.
Western ironweed flowerhead in bloom
Western Ironweed (Baldwin's Ironweed)
Vernonia baldwinii
Ironweeds are tough, grayish-green, branching plants known for their fluffy-looking clusters of reddish-purple florets. They are a familiar sight on roadsides and pastures. Identify western ironweed by the bracts at the base of the flowerheads.
Photo of hedge parsley flower clusters
Hedge Parsley
Torilis arvensis
Hedge parsley is an introduced plant that looks a lot like parsley. It was first collected in Missouri in 1909 and has become much more abundant in recent decades as it spreads along roadsides and railroads.
Photo of Korean lespedeza plant with flowers
Korean Lespedeza (Korean Clover)
Kummerowia stipulacea (formerly Lespedeza stipulacea)
Korean lespedeza is an Asian clover that was introduced to North America to prevent erosion, to feed wildlife and livestock, and, since it is a legume, to add nitrogen to the soil. A weedy plant, it has spread statewide since the 1930s.
Photo of mullein basal leaves
Mullein
Verbascum thapsus
Mullein immigrated to America along with Europeans, and with them it has spread across the continent. Its fuzzy, green-gray rosettes of leaves and tall spikes of yellow flowers make it easy to identify.
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 pink wild onion flower clusters
Wild Onion
Allium stellatum
Wild onion is edible and is also favored by native-plant gardeners, who enjoy its showy umbels of pink flowers and tolerance of dry, rocky sites. This Ozark species blooms in summer and fall.
Photo of tall bellflower stalk with flowers
Tall Bellflower (American Bellflower)
Campanula americana
Tall bellflower is an abundant native bellflower that is easily identified by its stout, tall habit, short, wheel-shaped, blue corolla, and the curved, purple style that projects beyond the flower.
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!