Field Guide

Wildflowers, Grasses and Other Nonwoody Plants

Showing 71 - 80 of 168 results
Media
Photo of ox-eye daisies in a grassy field
Species Types
Scientific Name
Leucanthemum vulgare (formerly Chrysanthemum leucanthemum)
Description
Ox-eye daisy, though familiar, is not native to North America. It was introduced long ago from Eurasia. Common in grassy uplands, pastures, fencerows, and roadsides, it can colonize aggressively in the garden.
Media
Photo of tickseed coreopsis flowerhead
Species Types
Scientific Name
Coreopsis lanceolata
Description
Native to Ozark glades and prairies, tickseed coreopsis has long been appreciated as a hardy garden perennial. Because of its popularity, it has escaped from cultivation and now occurs statewide.
Media
Photo of white heath aster flowers
Species Types
Scientific Name
Symphyotrichum pilosum (formerly Aster pilosus)
Description
White heath aster is one of Missouri's most widespread and weedy native asters. It grows in uplands, bottomlands, and nearly all habitats in between. It has a shrubby, wide-branching habit, and the stem leaves are thin and needlelike.
Media
Photo of prairie parsley flower cluster.
Species Types
Scientific Name
Polytaenia nuttallii
Description
Found mainly in the southern half of the state, in prairies and glades, prairie parsley is an upright, stout-stemmed perennial with small yellow flowers in umbrella-shaped clusters. It blooms April through June.
Media
Photo of purple meadow parsnip foliage and flowers
Species Types
Scientific Name
Thaspium trifoliatum
Description
One of our more challenging plants to identify, meadow parsnip looks an awful lot like golden Alexanders. But you can do it! Look closely at the flower clusters and at the edges of the leaves, and then check the seeds.
Media
Photo of common golden Alexanders plant with flowers
Species Types
Scientific Name
Zizia aurea
Description
Named for its resemblance to a European herb that was popular in Medieval times, golden Alexanders is a native Missouri wildflower with bright yellow flowers arranged in umbrella-like clusters.
Media
Photo of a Queen Anne's lace flower cluster, seen from the top
Species Types
Scientific Name
Daucus carota
Description
Queen Anne’s lace is many things to many people — roadside wildflower, noxious introduced weed, wild edible, medicinal herb, delightful cut flower. In Missouri, it blooms May through October.
Media
Caucasian bluestem seed head
Species Types
Scientific Name
Bothriochloa bladhii
Description
Causasian bluestem and the closely related yellow bluestem are both aggressive, weedy degraders of pasturelands that escape cultivation and endanger native habitats. Learn more about these Old World grasses, and please don’t plant them!
Media
Photo of Johnson grass flower clusters
Species Types
Scientific Name
Sorghum halepense
Description
Johnson grass is a native of the Mediterranean that is invasive in our country. It’s a weed that infests cropland and degrades native ecosystems, and heavy infestations are found in all the major river bottoms of Missouri.
Media
Photo of prairie showing big bluestem leaves and flowering stalks
Species Types
Scientific Name
Andropogon gerardii
Description
Every Missourian should know big bluestem. It is the most famous of our native prairie grasses. The seed head of this tall grass branches into three parts, resembling a turkey’s foot.
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!