Phlox diffusa is a species of phlox known by the common name spreading phlox. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to the southwestern United States to the Dakotas, where it grows in many types of habitat, including rocky, high elevation mountain slopes. It is a very compact mat-forming perennial herb growing in cushions or patches of short, decumbent stems. The linear, lance-shaped, or needle-like leaves are no more than 1.5 centimeters long and are oppositely arranged in bundles on the short stems. The inflorescence is a solitary tubular flower around a centimeter long. It has a flat white or pale pink or blue corolla with five lobes each just under a centimeter in length.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
⚠ sources differ — GIFT: herb · TRY: Subshrub, Forb/herb
Growth form USDASingle Crown
Hedge toleranceNone
Known allelopathNo
Leaf retentionNo
Low growing grassNo
Root depth min15 in
Shape and orientationDecumbent
Small grainNo
Woodinessnon-woody
Physiology & chemistry20
Anaerobic toleranceNone
C:N ratioHigh
Caco3 toleranceMedium
Cold stratification requiredYes
Drought toleranceHigh
Fertility requirementLow
Fire resistantNo
Fire toleranceMedium
Frost free days min120 days
Moisture useLow
Nitrogen fixation levelNone
Photosynthetic pathwayC3
Precipitation max40 in
Precipitation min20 in
Protein potentialLow
Salinity toleranceNone
Shade toleranceLow
Soil pH max8.5 pH
Soil pH min6.5 pH
Temperature min-13 °F
Uses & economy14
Berry nut seed productNo
Christmas tree productNo
Commercial availabilityRoutinely Available
Fodder productYes
Lumber productNo
Naval store productNo
Nursery stock productNo
Palatable browse animalLow
Palatable graze animalLow
Palatable humanNo
Post productNo
Pulpwood productNo
ToxicityNone
Veneer productNo
Other traits6
Fall conspicuousNo
Fruit seed abundanceMedium
Fruit seed conspicuousNo
Fruit seed persistenceNo
Planting density max4 800 per acre
Planting density min2 700 per acre
05DNA & barcoding3 specimens
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Phlox diffusa has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens3
Marker genes4
GenBank sequences7
eDNA detections2
Countries2
The DNA barcodea real sequence read deposited for this species
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★matK3★rbcL1★rbcLa★ITS3
plant barcodefungal barcode
07Deep time~3.35 Ma lineage
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
DNA clock origin3.35 Ma TimeTree
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
DNA clock origin
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type5 205 records
Wild obs. + sensor3 895
Museum / vouchered1 305
Cultivated / captive5
Origin
Native52
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO9 000 km²
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy87% within 1 km
≤100 m 2 173≤1 km 429≤10 km 259>10 km 136
2 997 georeferenced · 898 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor3 895
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy66% within 1 km
≤100 m 47≤1 km 455≤10 km 237>10 km 22
761 georeferenced · 544 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence1 305
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Coordinate accuracy100% within 1 km
≤1 km 5
5 georeferenced
Open the mapnot free-living5
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions46 of 66 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
WTUlocation not on record
204
Angwin, US
135
Arcata, US
129
Victoria, CA
81
Corvallis, US
79
DOI/NPS, Little Rock Central High School National Historic Sitelocation not on record
46
Davis, US
41
Claremont, US
34
Missoula, US
33
Moscow, US
27
Santa Barbara, US
25
CASlocation not on record
25
DOI/NPS, Mount Rainier National Parklocation not on record
24
Riverside, US
23
Pullman, US
23
San Francisco, US
20
Fredericton Stock Culture Collectionlocation not on record
18
Boise, US
16
Ashland, US
15
Tacoma, US
11
San Jose, US
10
Canadian Department of Agriculturelocation not on record
10
San Diego, US
8
US
7
Vancouver, CA
7
Truckee, US
7
Northridge, US
6
Provo, US
6
University of Stellenboschlocation not on record
5
Flagstaff, US
5
STNFlocation not on record
5
Bureau of Land Management, Medford District Officelocation not on record
4
Chongqing Museumlocation not on record
4
Portland, US
4
Logan, US
3
San Luis Obispo, US
3
St. Paul, US
3
KNFHClocation not on record
3
Pocatello, US
3
Los Angeles, US
3
Saint Louis, US
3
KNFSClocation not on record
3
ASUlocation not on record
3
Denver, US
2
Turlock, US
2
Cheney, US
2
Bronx, US
2
Columbia, US
2
Henderson, US
2
South Kensington, GB
2
Wuzhou, CN
2
Tampa, US
2
University of Lethbridgelocation not on record
1
Wlocation not on record
1
San Bernardino, US
1
Musee des Dinosaures d'Esperaza (Aude)location not on record
1
Fullerton, US
1
Chadron, US
1
Chicago, US
1
Burlington, US
1
University of British Columbia, Herbariumlocation not on record
1
INFlocation not on record
1
Brookings, US
1
Severin-McDaniel Insect Collectionlocation not on record
1
Bloomington, US
1
BAYLUlocation not on record
1
66 institutions · 1 156 of 1 305 vouchered records shown · 149 without an institution code
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
09Environmental DNA2 detections
Where the DNA of Phlox diffusa was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found2
Studies independent surveys1
Countries1
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 2 detections have coordinates
Open the map1 country0
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
Modelled climatemodelled
−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C
Temperature median12.5 °C 12.5–12.5
Seasonal swing summer↔winter18.5 °C
Max temp (day)19.1 °C
Min temp (night)7.00 °C
Precipitation57.4 mm/mo
Air humidity59.0 %
Moisture balance-75.5 mm/mo
Vapour deficit599 Pa
Wind speed3.30 m/s
Cloud cover34.0 %
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 1 detection point · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation2 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility5 205 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI2 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics3 specimens↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinesequences↗
GRIN TaxonomyUSDA-ARSdistribution & uses↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗