Phlox pilosa, the downy phlox or prairie phlox, is an herbaceous plant plant in the family Polemoniaceae. It is native to eastern North America, where it is found in open areas such as prairies and woodlands.
Description
Downy phlox is a
perennial plant that grows high. The stems are upright and sometimes branched near the top. Leaves, stems, and
are covered with hairs and the plant is sticky to the touch. Leaves are long and narrow and have pointed tips; they can be up to long and wide. The flowers grow in rounded clusters up to at the top of stems. The stems have
opposite leaves. Each flower has five lobes (
) that are pale pink, lavender, or purple, and is across.
Ecology
The flowers produce pollen on anthers near the end of the corolla tube, and nectar at the bottom of the corolla. Only butterflies, moths, skippers, and very long-tongued bees (the largest
) have long enough tongues to reach the nectar. Shorter-tongued bees and
flower flies visit to feed on or gather pollen.
It is a larval host to the
phlox moth (
Schinia indiana).
The flowers are self-incompatible. Unless they are cross-pollinated, they will not produce any seed. Butterflies, skippers, and moths are the most effective pollinators. As they insert their proboscis into the corolla tube, it touches the and picks up pollen. When they roll up their proboscis and move to the next flower, some pollen remains and is transferred to the stigma as they insert their proboscis into the next flower.
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