Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Subshrub

General: Herbaceous perennials, often growing in low mounds or mats, stems open and erect.

Leaves: Opposite, lance-linear, 1-5 cm long, with entire margins.

Flowers: Purple, bright pink, or white, with white throats and 5 notched petals with 2 rounded lobes at each tip, corolla tubes 10-15 mm long, the lobes obcordate to deeply 2-lobed, calyx 7-10 mm long, (membrane not keeled), stamens short, anthers within the corolla tube, styles to 2 mm long, stigmas larger than the styles, inflorescences dense, terminal, with leaf-like bracts below, pedicels slender, 3-20 mm long.

Fruits: Capsule. Seeds 1-many.

Ecology: Found on rocky soils on wooded slopes and in sagebrush scrub communities, from 1,500-8,000 ft (457-2438 m); flowering April-June.

Distribution: Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington.

Notes: This pretty perennial has purple, pink, or white flowers with 5 petals, each petal slightly folded along the middle and with a notch creating 2 rounded lobes at each tip.

Ethnobotany: Specific uses for this species are unknown, but other species in the genus have uses.

Synonyms: None

Editor: LCrumbacher2012

Etymology: Phlox comes from the Greek phlox, "flame," ancient name of Lychnis of the Caryophyllaceae, and speciosa means showy.