Phlox condensata

Condensed phlox

Family: Polemoniaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Condensed phlox is a California native perennial found in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, southern Sierra Nevada, and northeastern Sierra Nevada in dry, open, rocky areas, especially on limestone and travertine, at elevations of 2,000 to 4,000 meters. Flowering from June to August, this plant produces white to pale pink flowers in solitary, terminal clusters with a corolla tube 8 to 10 millimeters long. Growing as a tightly cushion-like perennial with compact form, it forms dense, low-growing mats in alpine and subalpine environments. Its leaves are distinctively narrow and hairy, measuring 3 to 5 millimeters long, lanceolate in shape, with coarse ciliate margins and a concave upper surface. The plant's unique cushion-like growth habit and limestone-loving nature make it a characteristic species of high-elevation rocky habitats in California's mountain ranges.

Habitat: Dry, open, rocky areas, especially limestone, travertine

Bloom period: Jun-Aug

Elevation: 2000-4000 m

Bioregions: SNH, SnBr, SNE

California counties: San Bernardino, Mono, Inyo, Modoc, Alpine, Tuolumne, El Dorado, Amador, Fresno

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.