Field Guide

Horsetails, or scouring rushes, are in the genus Equisetum. They’re easy to recognize with their jointed, hollow stems. Like ferns, they reproduce via spores instead of flowers and seeds.

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.

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.

Smooth cliff brake is almost always seen growing out of an exposed limestone or dolomite bluff or rock. Its fronds, with blue-gray, lance-shaped, ovate, or oblong leaflets, are not very fernlike.

Lowland brittle fern, also called southern fragile fern, is an easily recognized species. It’s a common springtime sight in moist forest soils.

Bracken is a fern found nearly worldwide. Its 2–3 times compound leaves are triangular in outline and arise singly from the underground creeping rhizome.

The common dandelion is a well-known common weed of lawns, roadsides, and other disturbed places. Originally from Europe, it occurs nearly worldwide.

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.

Common ragweed is instantly recognizable by its ornate, 2–3 times pinnately lobed, hairy leaves. You’ve probably seen it many times and wondered what it was.

Purple poppy mallow, a native Missouri prairie wildflower, is a favorite of wildflower gardeners. It’s easy to care for and a showy choice for formal or informal landscaping.