For many pioneers headed west by wagon train, Missouri offered the first glimpse of the prairie lying ahead. Plants and trees included some familiar from homes farther east, and some were new. It may be in part the awareness of history that means Missouri offers excellent resources for identifying native plants, at government, academic and amateur levels.
Contact Grow Native for classes and workshops in native plant education. The Powell Garden Native Plant School conducts monthly sessions for interested gardeners. Some classes reflect Missouri's agricultural basis (workshops for elderberry growers, for example). Grow Native is a joint project of the Missouri State Departments of Conservation and Agriculture. Projects include prairie and savanna reconstruction and the native plantings of highway edges and median strips.
Join the MIssouri Native Plant Society. This group publishes two different kinds of newsletters, holds events, and keeps the calendars of active chapter meetings. The Native Plant Society is associated with the Flora of Missouri database, which remains under constant expansion and encourages contriibutions from members and with the Herbarium of the University of Missouri at Columbia.
Visit a technically slightly fragile but easily used database called Missouriplants.com. The database makes identification of native plants easy by using an old sorting system based on flower color and leaf position, among other characteristics (the sample page cited is for white flowers with stems where leaves alternate). Four out of five visits yielded quick, accurate information; on the fifth visit, the site administrator provided clear directions for accessing the site later.