Plant Name
Scientific Name: Phlox tenuifolia
Common Names: Santa Catalina Mountain Phlox, Vine Phlox, Desert Phlox
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Perennial
Growth Habit: Shrub, Subshrub, Herb/Forb
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Desert, Upland. This showy wildflower grows on rocky slopes and in canyons in the mountain foothills. As its common name would indicate, a good place to see this plant is in Arizona's Santa Catalina Mountains.
Flower Color: White
Flowering Season: Spring, Fall
Height: To 39 inches (1 m) tall, but usually less
Description: The flowers are tubular, 1 inch (2.5 cm) wide, and have 5 elongated, round-tipped lobes and a yellow throat. The leaves are dark green, opposite, narrowly linear in shape, and up to 2 inches (5 cm) long. In sunny locations, this plant is low and mounded, while in shady spots, it is taller, vine-like, and rambles through other plants.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Asteridae
Order: Solanales
Family: Polemoniaceae – Phlox family
Genus: Phlox L. – phlox
Species: Phlox tenuifolia E.E. Nelson – Santa Catalina Mountain phlox
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