Phlox gracilis subsp. gracilis

PLANT: Annual with 1-3 erect stems, 3-15 cm tall, often branched below, the lower stems ascending or spreading. LEAVES: linear to elliptic or narrowly oblanceolate, pubescent and glandular, 1-2(-4) cm long, 2-5 mm wide. INFLORESCENCE: flowers 1-2, subsessile to pedicelled at tips of terminal branches, sometimes axillary; pedicels glandular. FLOWERS: calyx 3-8 mm long; corolla white to bluish lavender, the throat sometimes yellow tinged, the tube 4-8 mm long, the lobes 1-2 mm long, obtuse to retuse; stamens inserted on the upper tube and throat; stigmas located among the lower stamens. SEEDS: gelatinous when wet. NOTES: Open, sandy to gravelly sites; Apache, Cochise, Coconino, Gila, Graham, Maricopa, Mohave, Pima, Pinal, Santa Cruz, Yavapai cos.; 300-2450 m (1000-8000 ft); Mar-Aug; w N. Amer., S. Amer. REFERENCES: Dieter H. Wilken and J. Mark Porter, 2005, Vascular Plants of Arizona: Polemoniaceae. CANOTIA 1: 1-37.