Field Guide

Wildflowers, Grasses and Other Nonwoody Plants

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Media
Photo of Mexican mosquito fern plants on a pond surface, surrounded by duckweed
Species Types
Scientific Name
Azolla mexicana
Description
Scooping up a handful of mosquito fern reveals it to be a mass of tiny ferns, each smaller than a dime, and consisting of many small, overlapping leaves arranged around a central stalk, with a single rootlet dangling from the plant base.
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!