Wildflowers, Grasses and Other Nonwoody Plants
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Scientific Name
Hypericum perforatum
Description
In Europe, St. John’s-wort was long used as a medicinal herb and to ward off evil magic. Today, researchers are finding it can treat depression. Yet it poisons livestock and in some places is an invasive weed.
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Scientific Name
Phytolacca americana
Description
A tall, smooth, branching plant with red stems and juicy, dark purple berries, pokeweed is both toxic and a traditional edible potherb called poke salat. It is common statewide.
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Scientific Name
Lilium michiganense
Description
This native lily looks a lot like the Asian “tiger lily” that is commonly cultivated in gardens. Michigan lily, however, has leaves mostly in whorls and lacks the round “bulblets” that tiger lily forms in its leaf axils.
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Scientific Name
Commelina communis
Description
The flowers of dayflower are truly blue, and they have only two conspicuous petals. A fast-growing, sprawling, but shallow-rooted weed, this introduced species commonly annoys gardeners.
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Scientific Name
Verbesina virginica
Description
White crownbeard is a tall native perennial wildflower with clusters of white flowerheads. It's called “wingstem” for the narrow green wings running along the stem. It’s called “frostweed” because it forms "frost flowers": strange and beautiful formations at the stem bases after a sudden hard frost.
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Silphium terebinthinaceum
Description
Of Missouri’s six rosinweeds, prairie dock is identified by its large, leathery, unlobed leaves, which are nearly all in a basal whorl. Only a few small leaves grow on the stem.
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Scientific Name
Passiflora lutea
Description
Yellow passion flower is the smaller of Missouri’s two Passiflora species. Both are vines that climb via tendrils. This one has yellowish-green flowers about an inch wide. Look for it along and south of the Missouri River.
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Scientific Name
Ambrosia trifida
Description
Large stands of wind-pollinated giant ragweed commonly form in disturbed areas, causing late-summer misery in the form of hay fever for many Missourians.
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Scientific Name
Helenium flexuosum
Description
The purplish or brownish disk florets of purple-headed sneezeweed set it apart from our other sneezeweeds, whose centers are yellow. Look for it in moist, open areas, mostly in the southern half of the state.
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Scientific Name
Bidens aristosa
Description
Tickseed sunflower has flattened black seeds that attach themselves to clothing and pets via two needlelike awns. In flower, it grows in massive displays in moist bottomlands.
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!