Hairy Phlox - Phlox amoena

Hairy phlox (Phlox amoena) is an uncommon native phlox in Florida - vouchered sporadically in extreme north Florida: Escambia and Jefferson Counties in the Panhandle and four counties in and around the Jacksonville area in northeastern Florida.  It is widely distributed north of Florida, however, from Georgia and Alabama north to North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky.  It is a perennial wildflower most common to upland sunny habitats such as sandhills, open woodland edges and roadsides.  

This species dies back to the ground in winter and reemerges again in spring.  It eventually reaches a mature height of about 1 foot prior to flowering in late spring.  Though phlox species share many characteristics, hairy phlox is rather easily identified by the noticeable hairs on both the leaves and stems. Even the flower calyx is hairy though the flowers themselves are smooth. The narrow eliptical leaves are opposite along the stem and up to 2 inches long.  

The flowers are typically shaped and colored for others in this genus; the color can range from pale pink to a much deeper rose.  The center is marked by a deeper color. One characteristic to also look for is that the stamens do not extend outside of the corolla tube of the 5 fused petals. Other phlox species that I am more familiar with attract a wide variety of pollinators and I suspect this species does as well.  Pollinated flowers produce small seed capsules that "explode" when fully ripe, scattering the seed away from the parent plant.

Many native phlox are available from various native plant nurseries in the Southeast, but I can find none that currently offer this one.  It would seem to be a species that would warrant commercial availability.  

The above photos were taken in south Georgia by my friend, Floyd Giffith and used by permission.