Field Guide

Wildflowers, Grasses and Other Nonwoody Plants

Showing 1 - 10 of 15 results
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 a tall thoroughwort plant in bloom.
Tall Thoroughwort (Tall Boneset)
Eupatorium altissimum
A stout perennial that can grow to 6 feet tall, tall thoroughwort is a member of the sunflower family that has dull white flowers and distinctive leaves that are opposite, slender, very short-stalked, and with three quite noticeable veins.
Photo of many blooming ashy sunflower plants, showing gray-green leaves.
Sunflowers
Helianthus spp.
Most people recognize sunflowers when they see them, with their bright yellow ray flowers and rather flattened center of dark disk flowers. There are 16 species of Helianthus in Missouri.
Closeup of single flowerhead of a New World aster with yellow disk florets and lavender ray florets
New World Asters (American Asters)
Symphyotrichum spp. (formerly Aster spp.)
Missouri has 24 species of New World asters in genus Symphyotrichum. Most have purple or white ray flowers and yellow disk flowers that turn reddish over time. Most bloom in late summer and fall.
Lamb's quarters plant growing in bare, disturbed soil
Lamb's quarters (Pigweed)
Chenopodium album
Lamb’s quarters won’t win any beauty contests for its flowers, but it merits an award for being both a common garden weed as well as a nutritious leafy green valued around the world.
Giant ironweed flower cluster
Ironweeds
Vernonia spp.
Five species of ironweeds live in Missouri. Starting in the middle of summer, they bear showy clusters of magenta or purple flowerheads at the branching tops of upright stalks.
Photo of common violet plant with flowers
Violets
Viola spp.
Violets, as a group, are fairly easy to identify, with their colorful five-petaled “faces” so welcome in springtime. Missouri has 17 species, and some are confusingly similar. This page introduces them as a group.
Pale or cream violet, Viola striata, closeup of flower
Pale Violet (Cream Violet)
Viola striata
Pale violet, or cream violet, is Missouri’s only white-flowering violet that produces true aboveground stems. It is scattered to common in the Ozarks, Ozark border, and Bootheel lowlands and uncommon or absent elsewhere in the state.
Missouri violet blooming along Katy Trail near Easley, Missouri
Missouri Violet
Viola missouriensis (syn. V. sororia var. missouriensis)
Missouri violet is one of five Missouri stemless violets with purple or blue flowers and unlobed leaves. It is distinguished by its triangular or heart-shaped leaves that are longer than wide and are coarsely toothed only on the basal two-thirds.
Ground ivy or creeping Charlie flowers and leaves
Ground Ivy (Creeping Charlie)
Glechoma hederacea
Ground ivy, or creeping Charlie, is a creeping, nonwoody plant that often forms loose mats. A native of Eurasia, this member of the mint family has been introduced nearly throughout the United States. It is considered a lawn and garden weed.
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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!