Field Guide

Red clover, or purple clover, is the familiar large, pinkish-purple clover that grows in lawns, pastures, and roadsides statewide. A Eurasian native, it was introduced to North America by the middle 1600s.

Round-headed bush clover is a stiffly upright plant that has rounded flower clusters with cream-colored, pea-shaped flowers with purple markings on the banner petal. It grows statewide in open habitats.

Bottlebrush grass is a native perennial, tuft-forming wild rye that typically grows in woodlands. The widely spaced spikelets spread away at a right angle from the main flowering stem.

Canada wild rye can be identified by its bristly seed heads, which curve downward. As the seeds mature, the straight, long awns curve and bend. This is a common native cool-season grass that reaches about 4 feet tall and is highly valued as forage and hay for livestock.

A common sight in dry upland Ozark woods, poverty grass is a species you can identify by its leaves alone. The basal leaves persist for several years, becoming dry and curly. Although the flowering stems can be 2 feet high, the basal leaves are only about 5 inches long.

Prairie dropseed is a native perennial bunch grass that forms dense clumps of fine, light green, arching leaves. The seed heads are airy, open, branching clusters bearing small, ovate florets on their own individual branchlets.

American bluehearts is a single or few-stalked wildflower of prairies and glades. It has distinctive, showy purple flowers that turn black as they age.

Downy phlox, also called prairie phlox, is a perennial wildflower with lance-shaped leaves and showy, rounded clusters of pink or lavender flowers. It is similar to blue phlox, but it grows more often in prairies and other open, sunny, and drier habitats.