Field Guide

Yellow ironweed is a tall native perennial wildflower. Its yellow petal-like rays droop down, making the many flowerheads look like small, ragged sunflowers. The stems are winged, especially toward the bottom of the plant.

Canada wild rye can be identified by its bristly seed heads, which curve downward. As the seeds mature, the straight, long awns curve and bend. This is a common native cool-season grass that reaches about 4 feet tall and is highly valued as forage and hay for livestock.

Prairie dropseed is a native perennial bunch grass that forms dense clumps of fine, light green, arching leaves. The seed heads are airy, open, branching clusters bearing small, ovate florets on their own individual branchlets.

Eastern figwort occurs statewide in rich woods, woodland borders, and bottomlands. It’s usually 2-5 feet high, has square stems and lance-shaped, toothed leaves, and bears spreading clusters of small, green scoop-shaped flowers with brown petal lobes.

Virginia sneezeweed is the rarest of Missouri’s four sneezeweeds. A state endangered and federally threatened species, it occurs in about 60 sites in our southern Ozark counties, primarily in boggy, sinkhole pond habitats.