Botanizing down the drive this morning and practiced ID's. Penstemons are probably Penstemon canescens which Barnes calls Appalachian Beardtongue and Peterson calls Gray Beardtongue. It's covered with fine hairs, especially lower on the stem, which they say may be grayish. The 'tongue' is actually a bearded, yellow-tipped sterile stamen. The other stamens are smooth and the anthers are covered in dark pollen. Hand lens also shows purple stripes leading into the flower on the lower petals. 3 lower petals and 2 upper petals. In the snapdragon or figwort family - Scrophulariaceae.
Also examined Asclepias viridis, Ozark Milkweed per Barnes. Not listed in Peterson or Newcomb. Petals standing up, unlike Green Milkweed. White milky sap. The 5 purple stamens and the stigma certainly have a unique and distinctive appearance.
Viola striata is the Pale or Cream Violet. Clear purple stripes on bottom petal, hairs on the other 2 lower petals to the center. No yellow color in center as with Canada Violet. Barnes does not mention the large, deeply toothed stipules as in Peterson's and Newcomb's which are distinctive and diagnostic.
Also probably Yellow Sweet-clover - Melilotus officinales, an alien.
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