Missouri Wildflowers

August 27, 2010

Looking out my front door, across the grassy field in the shade of the trees, I saw a tall, shimmering, orange flower that stood above all the tall grasses.  Curious, I went over to see it. I knew it was a lily, but had no idea what kind.  At this time, I knew nothing about wildflowers beyond dandelions and Queen Ann’s Lace.  I had never seen this beautiful flower.  On another occasion, I found a pretty purple flower and wondered what it might be.

I decided to go to the MCPL Raytown Branch to see if I could find a book on native plants.  I found a wonderful book by Edgar Denison, Missouri Wildflowers.  I learned so much that I wanted a copy of my own.  I contacted the Missouri Native Plant Society, which gave me the phone number for the Kansas City Chapter.  I purchased a copy of the book from them and joined the society.

After 14 years of looking for the native flowers in Missouri, I have found most of the flowers in the book and I continue to keep my eye out for those I haven’t found.  In case you are wondering, the name of the shimmering orange flower is Lilium michiganense, and the name of the purple flower is Delphinium tricorne.

C. Jones
Raytown Branch