Field Guide

Wildflowers, Grasses and Other Nonwoody Plants

Showing 1 - 10 of 93 results
Photo of yellow violet plant with flower
Yellow Violet
Viola pubescens (formerly V. pensylvanica)
The yellow violet is Missouri's only all-yellow violet. This native wildflower is less common than violet violets. Look for it in low woods, rich slopes, and wooded floodplains.
Photo of violet wood sorrel plant with flowers
Violet Wood Sorrel
Oxalis violacea
Missouri has one introduced and four native wood sorrels. Violet wood sorrel is the only one that has magenta or lavender flowers.
Photo of an ebony spleenwort plant growing among moss and fallen leaves
Ebony Spleenwort
Asplenium platyneuron
Ebony spleenwort is a common forest-floor fern with wiry, shiny, dark brown leaf stalks and a ladderlike series of dark green, narrowly oblong leaflets.
Photo of purple cliff brake growing from a rock crevice, with a hand propping up one of the fronds
Purple Cliff Brake
Pellaea atropurpurea
Purple cliff brake is a fern that grows from crevices in limestone and dolomite rocks, or in rocky soils near them. Its leathery, blue-gray leaflets, which are oval to lance-shaped, make the fronds seem not very fernlike.
Photo of fire pink flowers
Fire Pink
Silene virginica
Fire pink is a low, clump-forming perennial with many slender, spreading stems that are sticky from glandular hairs, with open clusters of bright red flowers. This showy native Missouri plant is growing in popularity among home gardeners.
Photo of glade coneflower flowerhead showing yellow pollen
Glade Coneflower
Echinacea simulata
One of Missouri’s five types of echinaceas, glade coneflower is distinguished by its yellow pollen, drooping pink or purple ray flowers, and narrow, tapering leaves. Look for it in the eastern Ozarks, and at native plant nurseries!
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 white anemone
White Anemone (Windflower)
Anemone canadensis
White anemone is a showy native wildflower with interesting, deeply toothed leaves. Often occurring in colonies, it spreads easily (even aggressively) from rhizomes and is sometimes cultivated in wildflower gardens.
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 wild hyacinth flower cluster
Wild Hyacinth
Camassia scilloides
In spring, wild hyacinth bears an elongated cluster of pale blue flowers with prominent anthers that sway on stalks up to 2 feet tall.
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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!