_Phlox subulata_
_Flowers_--Very numerous, small, deep purplish pink, lavender or rose,
varying to white, with a darker eye, growing in simple cymes, or
solitary in a Western variety. Calyx with 5 slender teeth; corolla
salver-form with 5 spreading lobes; 5 stamens inserted on corolla tube;
style 3-lobed. _Stems:_ Rarely exceeding 6 in. in height, tufted like
mats, much branched, plentifully set with awl-shaped, evergreen leaves
barely 1/2 in. long, growing in tufts at joints of stem.
_Preferred Habitat_--Rocky ground, hillsides.
_Flowering Season_--April-June.
_Distribution_--Southern New York to Florida, westward to Michigan
and Kentucky.
A charming little plant, growing in dense evergreen mats with which
Nature carpets dry, sandy, and rocky hillsides, is often completely
hidden beneath its wealth of flowers. Far beyond its natural range, as
well as within it, the Moss Pink glows in gardens, cemeteries, and
parks, wherever there are rocks to conceal or sterile wastes to
beautify. Very slight encouragement induces it to run wild. There are
great rocks in Central Park, New York, worth travelling miles to see
in early May, when their stern faces are flushed and smiling with
these blossoms.