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Early Season Phlox

© Gregg Pasterick

As another season of wildflowers leans into it and begins to really pick up some momentum, chances are you are going to cross paths with some member of the Phlox Family (Polemoniaceae). Mixed in among the obscenely orange poppies at Antelope Valley you'll find Davy Gilia. Along a roadside above Ojai you might notice Prickly Phlox. And in the desert you might find Evening Snow, or Golden Gilia. It's a family that seems to thrive in the western U.S., and they don't waste time waiting on the summer months.

Like most members of the family, Prickly Phlox (Leptodactylon californicum) gives itself away with its flowers, which are clearly phlox flowers. The corolla, which is about an inch wide, consists of a narrow tube that abruptly flares into round, broad petals. They are usually pink, but are often white, cream or lilac in color.

The prickly bit comes in with the leaves. The leaves are palmately cleft with 5 to 9 narrow, stiff, prickly lobes.

The entire plant grows to 3' tall, blooming throughout the spring. It prefers dry places and rocky ridges, and can be found only in southern California.

In the desert, a variety of phloxes bloom in a variety of colors. Parry Gilia (Lianthus parryae) is mostly snow white, Golden Gilia (L. aureus) is golden yellow, Broad-flowered Gilia (Gilia cana ssp. speciformis) is pinkish-purple, and Pink Phlox (Phlox stansburyi) is ... well, I think you can guess. They are all lovely and incongruous, as all wildflowers in the desert seem to be to me; Parry Gilia and Golden Gilia, in a good year, can be particularly striking, covering patches of the desert in a fashion that brings to mind snow cover, or, I guess, yellow snow cover.

Another species, Evening Snow (L. jonesii), blooms at night, and has a wonderful maple-like aroma. It's the real surprise of the bunch. You can find it, the flowers still open, in the morning in the shade, before the sun gets to it first.

And what about the Davy Gilia (G. latiflora davyi), or Blue Headed Gilia (G. capitata), you ask? They do spring up among all those obscenely orange poppies, a blue and white froth with bright blue bits in the middle, and tall stems topped off with a ball of blue flowers. As the colors - the obscene orange poppies, the blue and white Davy Gilia and the Blue Headed Gilia - tumble across the distant the hills, they blend together on your retina, creating a sea of pink. It burns the unforgettable sight of all those acres of wildflowers into your brain once and for all, a beautiful face you will never forget for as long as you live.

Broad-flowered Gilia	Prickly Phlox	Parry Gilia	Parry Gilia - Blue form	Golden Gilia - White form
Pink Phlox	Davy Gilia	Blue Head Gilia

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