Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Subshrub

General: Suffrutescent perennials, plants compact, to 40 cm tall, stems 3-10 erect to ascending, sometimes loosely clumped, shoots mostly elongate and not much branched, the internodes evident but rather remote, herbage glabrous-pubescent throughout but especially above, plants taprooted.

Leaves: Opposite, narrowly lanceolate to ovate, 2-8 cm long, thick and short-acuminate, margins entire, gray-green in color, leaves mostly deciduous.

Flowers: Small and numerous, corollas white to deep pink, the tube 12-30 mm long, the lobes obovate, subentire, 5-15 mm long, calyx 7-12 mm long, subulate, glandular, pubescent, or glabrous, the junction of the membranes keeled with one or more longitudinal ridges to the base (carinate), stamens inserted on the upper tube, stigmas located among the stamens, styles elongate, almost as long as the corolla tube, flowers borne in loose, cymose clusters in groups of 2-3, the pedicels glandular to short pilose.

Fruits: Capsule, 5-10 mm long, longitudinally dehiscent.

Ecology: Found on sandy to rocky soils on dry, gravelly slopes, in open sites, shrublands and woodlands, from 3,000-9,000 ft (914-2743 m); flowering April-June.

Distribution: Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, California, and Utah.

Notes: This species looks very similar to a (pink) Verbena at first glance, look to the sticky, rounded stems to help differentiate. The short-acuminate and thick leaves help differentiate this species from the similar P. longifolia, which has long-acuminate and thin leaves, and from the similar P. amabilis by the lanceolate to ovate leaves, notched calyx membranes, and subentire corolla lobes of P. longifolia subsp. brevifolia. (The subentire corolla lobes also help identify this species from the similar P. speciosa subsp. woodhousei, which have deeply notched corolla lobes and short styles).

Etymology: Phlox comes from the Greek name phlomis, for some plant possibly not of this genus, while longifolia means with long leaves, and brevifolia means with short leaves.

Synonyms: None

Editor: LCrumbacher 2012