Plant Preference/Growing Conditions:

Prefers growing in various dry to mesic, well-drained soil in full sun to partial shade.

Growth Habit/Description:

Habitats mostly sunny mesic to dry sandy to rocky sites in open woodlands, prairies, and meadows. They Habit/form in clumping or spreadings.

Bloom Season:

Blooms from late spring to mid-summer. Produces white, red, pink, and purple colored flowers.  Flowers are flat-faced star-shaped grow to 1/2 inch wide and 1/4 inch long and have five petal-like lobes united at the base into a long slender tube.

Fall and/or Winter Interest?

Yes. It is an evergreen giving ground level coverage year round.

Host Plant for pollinators?

Its flowers attract bees, butterflies, and Cloudwing skippers. Butterflies, include American Painted Lady, Sulfur, and Swallowtail butterflies.

Other Known Ecological Value?

It provides a great nectar source for moths and hummingbirds. Downy phlox has no serious insect or disease problems although hot, dry conditions can promote spider mite infestations. It has resistance to powdery mildew.  Wildlife food source for animals such as rabbits, deer, and groundhogs will eat the foliage. Bees that are attracted to the plant include bumble bees, Anthophorine bees, little carpenter bees (Ceratina spp.), cuckoo bees(Nomada spp.), and green metallic bees (Agapostemon spp.) 

Reason for Name:

The genus, Phlox, is derived from the Greek word meaning flame - a reference to the flower color of some species. The specific epithet, pilosa, is from Latin meaning "hairy"- a reference to the plant's downy hairs that cover its leaves and stems

Special features:

The flowers are showy pale pink to lavender, fragrant, and extremely attractive to butterflies.  It has a velvety soft texture on leaves.

Historic Medicinal use:

Mexkwaki Native American tribes have used infusions of the leaves to invigorate the blood.

Missouri Botanical Garde. Raleigh (MO) Phlox pilosa var ozarkana. [Cited 2024, September 18]

Available from: https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=285447&isprofile=0&n=1, 

Arkansas Native Plant Society. Phlox pilosa var ozarkana. [Cited 2024, September 18]

Available from:https://anps.org/2023/02/21/know-your-natives-downy-phlox/ 

North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox (NC State Extension).Phlox pilosa ssp. ozarkana. [Cited 2024, September 18.]

Available from: https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/phlox-pilosa/ 

BONAP's North American Plant Atlas. Phlox pilosa ssp. ozarkana.  [Cited 2024, September 18]

Available from: https://bonap.net/MapGallery/County/Phlox%20pilosa.png 

Native Plant Trust Go Botany. Phlox pilosa [Cited 2024, October 13]

Available from: https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/phlox/pilosa/#:~:text=Meskwaki%20Native%20American%20tribes%20have,cover%20its%20leaves%20and%20stems. 

Last edited by Lindsey Cox, October 2024.