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.
[Illustration: 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.
[Illustration: 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.