Field Guide

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.

Dodders are easy to identify, even though at first you might not recognize them as plants. These parasitic plants usually look like a hairlike mass of yellow or orange, leafless, wiry, vining stems wrapping around the stems of other plants.

Purslane can be an aggressive pest in gardens and is one of the worst agricultural weeds in the world. Meanwhile, it’s also a favorite wild vegetable served cooked or raw, and many people cultivate it.

The leaf blades of plains, or wayside violet are highly variable, and the plant produces differently shaped leaves as the season progresses. It’s quite similar to cleft violet, but the leaves are smooth and hairless.

Curly dock’s rosettes of wavy-edged, leathery leaves are a common sight on roadsides and other disturbed lands. The fruit clusters at the top half of the plant turn dark rusty brown and are easy to spot from a distance.

Eastern figwort occurs statewide in rich woods, woodland borders, and bottomlands. It’s usually 2-5 feet high, has square stems and lance-shaped, toothed leaves, and bears spreading clusters of small, green scoop-shaped flowers with brown petal lobes.

Missouri ironweed is one of Missouri’s five species of ironweeds. Most common in the eastern half of the state, it is a hairy ironweed with a relatively large number of florets per flowerhead.

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.

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.

Curlytop ironweed is one of Missouri’s five species of ironweeds. It’s easy to identify because of its tapering, curling, threadlike involucral bracts. Also, it is usually a smooth, hairless plant.