Plant id: thin bamboo looking

There are two patches of this stuff but the color of the stems are different between the two patches. One has green and one reddish, otherwise they look really the same. The third picture is of a wildflower of some kind. Any clues?

Hi Zach -

The first one looks similar to a common plant in my Ohio yard: a calico aster.
They have red stems when young.
They can be very hard to ID at this time of year (Spring), because they bloom in Sept and Oct.
Although this upright lance-like stature in Spring, in the fall they change to put out lateral stems.
It's taken me 3 years to ID them!

Good luck!
Mariamne

Hey mariamne, I think you might be right on the aster. I think it had a ton of small flowers on it last summer but I can't fully remember. I also read that the color variation on the stems is common for calico aster. Thanks.

The third pic I thought was some for of skullcap because of the shape of the flowers, but could not figureally out which. I like the plant and have collected seeds from it to spread more.

Hi Zach -

Your third pic really has me stumped. I looked at pictures of skullcap, but it didn't seem like a match to me.

Your plant looks like a cross between a plantain and a mint! The base looks like plantain, because the plant seems to only have leaves there. The stems piercing rings of purple flowers looks (kinda) like some mint stalks. The closest pic I could find on Google images to yours is a flower stalk of "field mint," but when searching further, they have leaves on the flower stalks, too.

Is it true that the stems have no leaves: just these rings of flowers? (That's what it looks like from your pic).
And are the leaves at the base in a "rosette:" that is -- all radiating from a central point?

Thanks for the challenge!

Mariamne

Well I snapped a few more pics but can't get them to post right now.

It does look like the leaves come from a rosette, except one set of leaves that is low on the main stem and are on the side stems that are branching out.

The stems are definitely square. The leaves are ovate with sinuate margins. It's is a tough one.

the last picture looks like lyreleaf sage (salvia lyrata).

Thanks Sharon that looks like a match!

you're welcome zach ... glad i was right ... i'm not familiar with oklahoma plants. i have lots of this growing on my property and it's the first thing to start blooming in late winter for the butterflies and bees to nectar on ... well at least for me here in florida. once it goes to seed the songbirds and squirrels eat the seeds. it's a great little wildflower for wildlife and it grows on its own wherever i let it. http://www.sharonsflorida.com/lyre-leaf-sage.htm