Field Guide

Wildflowers, Grasses and Other Nonwoody Plants

Showing 1 - 10 of 16 results
Media
Photo of Japanese stiltgrass
Species Types
Scientific Name
Microstegium vimineum
Description
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.
Media
Photo of copper iris plants with flowers
Species Types
Scientific Name
Iris fulva
Description
This attractive, copper-colored iris is gaining in popularity as a garden plant even though its numbers are declining in the wild. Like many other native plants, copper iris is hardy, low-maintenance, and has few pest or disease problems.
Media
Photo of tall goldenrod plant with flowers
Species Types
Scientific Name
Solidago spp. (23 species in Missouri)
Description
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.
Media
Photo of white heath aster flowers
Species Types
Scientific Name
Symphyotrichum pilosum (formerly Aster pilosus)
Description
White heath aster is one of Missouri's most widespread and weedy native asters. It grows in uplands, bottomlands, and nearly all habitats in between. It has a shrubby, wide-branching habit, and the stem leaves are thin and needlelike.
Media
Photo of Johnson grass flower clusters
Species Types
Scientific Name
Sorghum halepense
Description
Johnson grass is a native of the Mediterranean that is invasive in our country. It’s a weed that infests cropland and degrades native ecosystems, and heavy infestations are found in all the major river bottoms of Missouri.
Media
Photo of several big bluestem seed heads against a blue sky.
Species Types
Scientific Name
All true grasses (species in the grass family)
Description
Missouri has 276 species in the grass family, including well-known crop plants and our native prairie grasses. Distinguishing between the species can be difficult, but it’s easy to learn some basics about the group.
Media
Photo of tall fescue plants
Species Types
Scientific Name
Festuca arundinacea
Description
You’ve seen it a million times, now learn to identify it! Technically an exotic invasive plant, tall fescue is practically everywhere, from lawns to levees, and from pastures to (unfortunately!) prairies.
Media
Star of Bethlehem cluster of plants with flowers
Species Types
Scientific Name
Ornithogalum umbellatum
Description
Star of Bethlehem is an introduced exotic plant that makes clusters of bright white flowers in the spring. It reproduces prolifically by forming a multitude of bulbs underground.
Media
Photo of slender mountain mint flowers
Species Types
Scientific Name
Pycnanthemum tenuifolium
Description
Slender mountain mint has smooth, square stems, opposite, narrow leaves, and dense heads of 2-lipped white (or lavender) flowers. Aromatic and minty, it can be grown at home in the herb garden, and its leaves used for seasoning food.
Media
Photo of common gerardia plant with flowers
Species Types
Scientific Name
Agalinis tenuifolia (formerly Gerardia tenuifolia)
Description
Slender false foxglove, or common gerardia, is a small, showy wildflower with slender, opposite leaves and thin, wiry, branching stems. The small, funnel-shaped blossoms are pink or purple, with an upper lip that arches over the 4 hairy stamens.
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!