Phlox drummondii Hook.
annual phlox
Annual herb to c. 50 cm high, glandular-hairy, with a single, branching taproot; stems ± villous, branched or remaining simple. Lvs sessile; lower and middle lvs opposite, 0.5-4.5 × 0.2-1.2 cm, narrow-elliptic to ovate; margins densely ciliate; base attenuate, sometimes amplexicaul; apex acute; upper lvs just below infl. smaller, nearly always alternate. Cymes many- to few-flowered; fls not fragrant, sometimes solitary on small plants. Bracts lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, ciliate, mostly much > pedicels or calyx. Pedicels very short except in uppermost fl., densely glandular-hairy. Calyx c. 8 mm long, densely glandular-hairy; tube > lobes and with broad transparent membrane between lobes (below sinus); lobes subulate to subulate-lanceolate, reflexed at fruiting. Corolla tube 1-1.5 cm long, narrow-cylindric, glandular-hairy outside; limb 2-2.5 cm diam., white, pink to rose, blue or purple; lobes broad, rounded or obtuse. Anthers > filaments, c. 1 mm long. Style very short, filiform, < stigmas. Capsule 3-3.5 mm long. Seed 2.5-3 mm long, ± ellipsoid, flattened and with longitudinal groove on one side, indistinctly pitted.
S.: Canterbury - Lake Bryndwr, Marshlands and McCormacks Bay (Christchurch), and Sheffield.
Southern U.S.A., Mexico 1958
Casual, cultivation escape in waste places.
FL Nov-Mar.
Wild plants are mostly depauperate, often with a single stem and 1 or few fls. Annual phlox is widely cultivated in N.Z., particularly in warmer areas. Fl. colour varies with some strains being of one colour only. However, most annual phlox grown in N.Z. come from packets producing fls of mixed colours.
