Texas Flowers in Natural Colors

by Eula Whitehouse

PHLOX FAMILY (Polemoniaceae)

Mostly annual and perennial herbs; calyx 5-lobed; corolla tubular, 5-lobed; ovary usually 3-celled; style often 3-parted; stamens 5, inserted on corolla-tube; capsules small.

Standing Cypress. Red Gilia (Gilia rubra) might also be called torch flowers, for the tall spikes with their masses of red tubular flowers make flaming spots of color on the edges of the post oak woods in May and June. It is sometimes known as Indian plume, Texas plume, or red Texas star.

The plants are usually unbranched and grow two to three feet high; however, if the top of the stem is removed or injured near the time of flowering, it will branch into several flowering spikes. The stems are pale green and quite leafy with the finely dissected leaves. The narrow tubular flowers are over an inch long and have broad spreading lobes which, on their inner surface, are a pale orange-red dotted with a darker red. The flowers, which resemble those of the cypress vine, are closely clustered on the stem, those at the top opening first. The capsules are nearly an inch long and contain numerous papery seeds.

Blue Gilia. Golden Eye (Gilia rigidula), differing markedly from the red gilia in the shape of the flowers, has a short, broadly flaring corolla with a conspicuous yellow center. The flowers are nearly an inch broad. The plants are perennial and are often widely branched at the base, forming clumps nearly a foot broad. The blue gilia is found on hills and stony plains from Central Texas to Mexico and New Mexico and blooms from March to October.

White Gilia. Long-Flowered Gilia (Gilia longiflora) has slender, erect stems, 1-2 feet high, terminated by a flat-topped cluster of tubular white flowers. The flowers have a narrow tube, about 1½ inches long, and 5 broad, spreading lobes. The leaves have threadlike divisions. The plants are very showy when they are in bloom and are especially abundant in sandy regions of Northwest Texas in the late summer and fall.

Few flower groups show such a decided red, white, and blue as the gilias. The group is a large one, mostly of Western North America, and is named in honor of the Spanish botanist, Philipp Salvador Gil. Some of the gilias are known in cultivation and are considered hardy plants of easy culture. The standing cypress may be grown from seeds planted in August or September, or plants may be transplanted in the spring.

DRUMMOND’S PHLOX

Drummond’s Phlox (Phlox drummondii) has rightly been called “Texan pride.” A drive late in April through the post oak sandy region east of Austin to the Brazos River and southeast to Victoria will disclose it in all its glory. The seeds were collected by Thomas Drummond in 1834 and sent to W. J. Hooker in the spring of 1835. Hooker, an eminent botanist, described it from the plants grown from those seeds in the Kew Gardens in London. According to his description, the plants were mostly of a brilliant rose-red with more or less purple in the flowers of some plants and darker red eyes in nearly all. It is quite probable that Drummond collected his seeds in the vicinity of Gonzales, the western limit of his Texas trip, where today wild phloxes which match his description occur in great profusion. The seeds collected may have included some from hybrid plants, as red phloxes with a white eye are found on the eastern edge of the red-phlox area, and the dark-eyed purple and red are found on its western limits in close proximity to the “phlox purple” variety.

The plant has long been a horticultural favorite, and more than 200 varieties have been described, few of which excel the native varieties in size or coloring.

PURPLE PHLOX

Purple Phlox (Phlox drummondii-purple varieties) grows in sandy soil in Central Texas. The variety with the white throat and red-star eye is common in the southeastern part of the state. It is especially abundant in Wilson and Karnes Counties, where extensive masses of purple may be noted in open sandy places among mesquite and post oak trees. This is a very vigorous phlox and produces large stems and flowers. Studies are being made to determine whether these purple phloxes are varieties of Drummond’s phlox or should be called by other names.

The variety with the purple throat and the two white marks at the base of each corolla lobe grows northwest of the range of the red-flowered Drummond’s phlox. It blooms from April to June and seems to withstand cold better than any of the annual phloxes except the dwarf phlox.

HELLER’S PHLOX BERLANDIER’S PHLOX THARP’S PHLOX

Berlandier’s Phlox (Phlox glabriflora) differs from Drummond’s phlox in many particulars. The flowers are usually a bluish-lavender which at a distance suggests the wild verbena. Like the other phloxes on this page, it has both stem and leaves clothed with scattered, long, soft hairs. The large corolla is marked with white at the base of the lobes and has a short, smooth tube. The vigorous plants branch profusely and often form masses two and three feet broad. This phlox may be found on sandy prairies south of Kingsville and west of Hebbronville in the winter and spring months but is at its best in February and March. It was first collected by Louis Berlandier at several places along the southern coast in 1828 and 1829.

Heller’s Phlox (Phlox helleri) is a close relative of Berlandier’s phlox but has a hairy corolla-tube, smaller flowers, and shorter leaves. It is found from March to May in sand near the coast around Copano, Aransas, and Nueces bays.

Slender Phlox (Phlox tharpii) has a long, hairy corolla-tube, and the slender stems are usually unbranched. Only four flowers are borne in a cluster. It is very abundant in Frio and Dimmit Counties in April. Theodore Roosevelt, in describing a peccary hunt south of Uvalde in April, 1904, mentions these fields of purple.

ROEMER’S PHLOX DWARF PHLOX

Roemer’s Phlox (Phlox roemeriana) has lovely flowers which vary in color from deep rose to phlox purple or pink. It is the only annual phlox marked with yellow around the eye or throat. Its large capsule, containing 12 or 15 seeds, is another conspicuous feature and shows its relationship with the perennial phloxes of West Texas. It forms a lovely display with bluebonnets and low prairie spider-worts in the limestone hill region in April and early May.

Dwarf Phlox (Phlox tenuis) is the smallest and most widely distributed of the annual phloxes, ranging from the south-central coast to Louisiana and into Southern Oklahoma. It is found on the coastal prairie and in sandy soil along the edges of post oak woods from March to May. The plants are usually six to eight inches high and unbranched, but branched varieties are known. The flowers are about half an inch broad, with narrow lobes which are marked with two reddish-purple lines at their base.

LARGE-FLOWERED PRAIRIE PHLOX PRAIRIE PHLOX

Prairie Phlox. Prairie Sweet William (Phlox pilosa) has a delightful fragrance common in lesser degrees to many of the phloxes. The widespread prairie phlox was named in 1753 from plants taken to France from Virginia. The stems are low and have a few opposite leaves which are pointed and widely spreading. The flat-topped clusters of pale pink, blue, white, or purple flowers bloom in March and April in Texas. The stems and flower clusters are clothed with soft hairs.

Large-Flowered Prairie Phlox (Phlox villosissima) grows in a strange environment for a phlox. Charles Wright found it in 1849 on the gravelly bars of the Nueces River, where it still grows. It is also found on other rivers in Southwest Texas. It has long, woody roots reaching toward the necessary moisture. The flowers are very large, and only a few are open at a time. It differs from the prairie phlox in its shorter and more numerous leaves, its larger flowers with their broader lobes, and alternate branches in the flower cluster. The prairie phloxes are perennial and are easily grown in Southwest gardens.