Phlox drummondii Hook.
Vernacular name: Annual Phlox, Drummond’s Phlox
Species Name: Phlox drummondii Hook.
Family: Polemoniaceae
Habit: Annual herb.
Stem: Erect, branched, softly hairy, 20–50 cm tall.
Leaf: Opposite, ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, 2–8 × 0.5–2 cm, entire, sessile, pubescent.
Flowering: Winter–spring (under cultivation).
Flowers: Showy, terminal cymes; corolla salverform with a long tube and 5 spreading lobes, red, pink, white, purple, violet, or bicoloured; stamens 5, epipetalous; ovary superior, tricarpellary.
Fruit: Ovoid 3-valved capsule containing a few small seeds.
Uses:
- Folk practices, made infusions of plant parts to treat children’s stomachaches.
- Herbal remedies uses topical application poultice of crushed leaves to treat boils and scorpion stings, whereas root poultices are used to relive aches.
- Widely cultivated as a bedding and border ornamental for its brightly coloured flowers and long blooming season. Commonly used in pots, rock gardens, and mass plantings, and attracts butterflies and other pollinators. It is grown primarily for ornamental value with no major economic or medicinal use.
- In local floral markets, used as filler flower due to its beautiful coloured clusters and a week-long vase life.
