[Illustration: Phlox tenuifolia
Phlox mesoleuca]
Common name: DESERT-PHLOX
Arizona desert: (_Phlox tenuifolia_). White-lavender. Spring.
California desert: (_Phlox stansburyi_). Pinkish-red. May-July.
Texas desert: (_Phlox mesoleuca_). Pink-white. June-August.
Phlox family. Size: Low-growing perennials, in clumps; or shrubby
plants in tufts up to 3 feet tall.
Representatives of the Phlox genus are found from the hot desert
lowlands to the mountain tops well above the timberline. Certain species
are limited in their range to the desert areas of the Southwest, and it
is in these that we are interested here. The plants sometimes present a
mass of heavy bloom twice yearly: heaviest in the spring, and again
following the summer rains. Several of the native species have been
brought under cultivation, particularly _P. tenuifolia_, in desert
gardens, as it grows naturally in a brushy habitat similar to that
formed by the shrubs planted around a house. Other forms grow as low,
creeping mats forming fragrant, colorful floral carpets.