![]() Photo 1: This mature plant has several gnarled taproots and smaller ropy roots. These secondary branches tend to survive over winter but die with new spring-time growth. Late in the growing season, after seed dispersal and dying of flowering stem/branches, short, leafy, secondary branches may develop along the remainder of the stem. The main stem and axillary branches along the upper portions of the stem bear flowers. The slender stems are stiff, rather tough and densely short-pubescent with hairs that may or may not be gland tipped. In similar sunny sites, at the time of bloom, plants with few stems have an open structure while those with many stems have a round-mounded structure. They tend to be purplish before becoming medium green at flowering. New stems may be erect or ground-hugging and spreading before becoming erect. New stems originate overwinter from axillary buds located at nodes at the base of old stems or directly from the root crown. The terete stems, few to many, grow to 18+ inches long. Plants develop stubby, branched taproots supported by smaller ropy roots and secondary ropy roots which may grow from basal stem-nodes with ground contact. Habitats vary from mostly sunny mesic to dry sandy to rocky sites in open woodlands, prairies and meadows. In Arkansas, occurrence is basically statewide. In the U.S., it occurs in an area bounded from south-central Texas and eastern Oklahoma, north along the eastern boundaries of states from Kansas to North Dakota, then eastward to New Jersey, south along the Atlantic coast to central Florida and then back to Texas principally excluding the Appalachian Mountains and portions of the lower Mississippi River floodplain. The specific epithet, pilosa, is from Latin meaning “hairy” – a reference to the plant’s pubescence. The genus, Phlox, is derived from the Greek word meaning flame – a reference to flower color of some species. ![]() ![]() Downy Phlox ( Phlox pilosa*) of the Phlox (Polemoniaceae) family is a semi-evergreen perennial forb with showy flowers of variable color and shape. ![]()
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