Phlox divaricata

The species name divaricata means "with a spreading and straggling habit".{{cite book|last=Harrison|first=Lorraine|title=RHS Latin for gardeners|year=2012|publisher=Mitchell Beazley|location=United Kingdom|isbn=978-1-84533-731-5|pages=224}}

Wild blue phlox is a semi-evergreen perennial growing {{convert|25|-|50|cm|0|abbr=on}} tall with opposite, unstalked, hairy leaves {{convert|2.5|–|5|cm|in|0|abbr=on}} in length and ovate-lanceolate in shape. Flowers appear in late spring and early summer. They are pleasantly fragrant and {{convert|2|–|4|cm|in|frac=4|abbr=on}} in diameter, with five petals fused at the base into a thin tube.{{cite book|title=RHS A-Z encyclopedia of garden plants|year=2008|publisher=Dorling Kindersley|location=United Kingdom|isbn=978-1-4053-3296-5|pages=1136}} The petals are a variety of pastel colors: blue-lavender, light purple, pink, or white. Flowers bloom March to May. It grows in moist, deciduous woods and bluffs.{{Cite web |title=Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center - The University of Texas at Austin |url=https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=phdi5 |access-date=2022-05-15 |website=www.wildflower.org}}

There are two subspecies: ssp. divaricata, with petals notched at the tip, and ssp. laphamii, without a notch.{{Minnesota Wildflowers|Phlox divaricata (Wild Blue Phlox)|flower|wild-blue-phlox}}

Wild blue phlox is most common in the climax successional stage of a community.Levin, D. A. (1967). Variation in Phlox divaricata. Evolution, 21(1), 92–108. https://doi.org/10.2307/2406743 The flowers produce nectar at the base of the long, narrow corolla tube, and pollen near the end of the corolla tube. Only butterflies, moths, skippers, and long-tongued bees have long enough tongues to drink the nectar.{{Illinois Wildflowers|woodland|plants|woodland_phlox|Woodland Phlox}} Short-tongued bees and flower flies are unable to reach the nectar, but may gather or feed on pollen.

Phlox is self-incompatible, so it requires cross-pollination to produce seed. Butterflies are the most effective pollinators. As they insert their proboscis into the flower to drink nectar, it contacts the anthers and picks up pollen. As they coil the proboscis before moving to the next flower, most of the pollen falls off, but some remains to be transferred to the stigma of the next flower that they drink nectar from.{{cite book|title=Pollinators on Native Plants|author=Heather Holm|date=2014|publisher=Pollinator Press|location=Minnetonka, MN|pages=108–109}}

{{anchor|Cultivars}}

Cultivated varieties have various colours, including blue ('Blue Moon'), lavender ('Clouds of Perfume') and white ('Fuller's White', 'White Perfume').

Phlox divaricata{{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/100517/Phlox-divaricata/Details | title = Phlox divaricata | publisher = RHS | access-date = 5 March 2021}} and the lavender-flowered cultivar 'Chattahoochee'{{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/93603/Phlox-divaricata-subsp-laphamii-Chattahoochee/Details | title = Phlox divaricata subsp. laphamii 'Chattahoochee' | publisher = RHS | access-date = 5 March 2021}} have both won the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.{{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/pdfs/agm-lists/agm-ornamentals.pdf | title = AGM Plants - Ornamental | date = July 2017 | page = 78 | publisher = Royal Horticultural Society | accessdate = 25 April 2018}}

Phlox Kaldari 02.jpg|Flowers of P. divaricata ssp. divaricata, with notched ends to the petals

Phlox divaricata - Wild Blue Phlox 2.jpg|A blue form of P. divaricata ssp. divaricata

Phlox divaricata, 2015-05-06, Bird Park, 03.jpg|Flowers of P. divaricata ssp. laphamii, without notches on the end of the petals

File:Phlox divaricata 1.jpg|Large clump of P. divaricata ssp. laphamii

File:PDivericataFlaHabitat.JPG|Habitat in Florida

File:Blue_Phlox.jpg|Kansas, Butler County, April

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category}}

{{Wikispecies}}

• {{NPIN |PHDI5 |link=1}}
• {{CalPhotos|Phlox|divaricata}}
• [http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/galleries/phloxdiva.html Connecticut Botanical Society]
• [http://www.kswildflower.org/flower_details.php?flowerID=203 Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses]
• [http://www.missouriplants.com/Blueopp/Phlox_divaricata_page.html Missouri Plants]
• [http://www.ppws.vt.edu/scott/weed_id/phldi.htm Virginia Tech Weed Identification Guide]
• [http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioimages/species/phdi5.htm BioImages]
• [http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/gardens-gardening/your-garden/plant-finder/plant-details/kc/e580/phlox-divaricata.aspx Missouri Botanical Garden]
• [http://www.ipni.org/ipni/simplePlantNameSearch.do?find_wholeName=Phlox+divaricata IPNI Listing]

{{Taxonbar|from=Q5222804}}

divaricata

Category:Perennial plants

Category:Plants described in 1753

Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus

Category:Flora of the North-Central United States

Category:Flora of the Northeastern United States

Category:Flora of the South-Central United States

Category:Flora of the Southeastern United States