''Phlox pilosa'', the downy phlox or prairie phlox, is an herbaceous plant in the family

Polemoniaceae The Polemoniaceae (Jacob's-ladder or phlox family) are a family of flowering plants consisting of about 25 genera with 270–400 species of annuals and perennials native to the Northern Hemisphere and South America, with the center of diversit ...

. 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 A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wid ...

that grows high. The stems are upright and sometimes branched near the top. Leaves, stems, and

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coine ...

s 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 In botany, phyllotaxis () or phyllotaxy is the arrangement of leaves on a plant stem. Phyllotactic spirals form a distinctive class of patterns in nature. Leaf arrangement The basic arrangements of leaves on a stem are opposite and alterna ...

. Each flower has five lobes ( petals) that are pale pink, lavender, or purple, and is across. File:Downy phlox and prairie dock.jpg, Downy phlox blooming in its natural habitat, in a Wisconsin prairie. (The large-leafed plant is ''

Silphium terebinthinaceum ''Silphium terebinthinaceum'' is a member of the Asteraceae, a family that includes sunflowers, and is commonly referred to as prairie dock or prairie rosinweed. It is native to central and eastern North America. "Rosinweed" became one of the pla ...

''.)

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

bumblebee A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus ''Bombus'', part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct related genera ...

s) have long enough tongues to reach the nectar. Shorter-tongued bees and

flower flies Hover flies, also called flower flies or syrphid flies, make up the insect family Syrphidae. As their common name suggests, they are often seen hovering or nectaring at flowers; the adults of many species feed mainly on nectar and pollen, while ...

visit to feed on or gather pollen. It is a larval host to the phlox moth (''Schinia indiana''). The flowers are

self-incompatible Self-incompatibility (SI) is a general name for several genetic mechanisms that prevent self-fertilization in sexually reproducing organisms, and thus encourage outcrossing and allogamy. It is contrasted with separation of sexes among individuals ...

. Unless they are

cross-pollinated Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds, most often by an animal or by wind. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, birds, a ...

, they will not produce any seed. Butterflies, skippers, and moths are the most effective pollinators. As they insert their

proboscis A proboscis () is an elongated appendage from the head of an animal, either a vertebrate or an invertebrate. In invertebrates, the term usually refers to tubular mouthparts used for feeding and sucking. In vertebrates, a proboscis is an elong ...

into the corolla tube, it touches the anthers 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.

References

External links

*
Missouri Botanical Garden
*

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7186544

pilosa The order Pilosa is a clade of xenarthran placental mammals, native to the Americas. It includes the anteaters and sloths (which includes the extinct ground sloths). The name comes from the Latin word for "hairy". Origins and taxonomy The bi ...

Flora of North America Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus