Phlox stolonifera (creeping phlox or moss phlox) is a species of flowering plant in the family Polemoniaceae. It is a perennial herbaceous plant that is native to the eastern United States. It occurs in woodlands and stream banks in the vicinity of the Appalachian Mountains from Pennsylvania south to northern Georgia. Naturalized populations occur as far north as Québec, Canada.Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map Its flowers are pale purple, pink, or white, 2 - in diameter, with a five-lobed corolla and yellow stamens, which are borne on stems that are 15 - tall. They lack the central band of color that is present in the flowers of the related Phlox subulata. The leaves are ovate. Those on creeping stems are 3 - long and 1.8 cm broad, while those on the erect flowering stems are smaller, 2 cm long.Sims, John. 1802. Curtis's botanical magazine, plate 563 and preceding unnumbered textual page full-page color illustration, description, and commentary. The Latin specific epithet stolonifera means having stolons or rooting runners.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
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 stolonifera has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens5
Marker genes4
GenBank sequences3
eDNA detections3
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.
★rbcL1★rbcLa★ITS2★ITS2
plant barcodefungal barcode
06Genome at a glanceCCDB
The complete instruction manualPhlox stolonifera carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
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 origin8.69 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 type1 863 records
Wild obs. + sensor1 581
Museum / vouchered280
Cultivated / captive2
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO3 800 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 accuracy84% within 1 km
≤100 m 895≤1 km 215≤10 km 92>10 km 124
1 326 georeferenced · 255 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor1 581
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 accuracy36% within 1 km
≤100 m 16≤1 km 61≤10 km 122>10 km 14
213 georeferenced · 67 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence280
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 2
2 georeferenced
Open the mapnot free-living2
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 institutions34 of 49 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Chongqing Museumlocation not on record
106
Philadelphia, US
38
Bangkok, TH
13
Burlington, US
13
Bloomington, US
11
Knoxville, US
10
Clemson, US
7
Bronx, US
5
WTUlocation not on record
5
Maryland Department of Natural Resourceslocation not on record
4
GAlocation not on record
4
Johnson City, US
4
Morgantown, US
4
Wuzhou, CN
4
College Park, US
4
Chapel Hill, US
4
Asheville, US
3
Oskarshamn, SE
2
Fairfax, US
2
Williamsburg, US
2
James F. Matthews Center for Biodiversity Studieslocation not on record
2
Oswego, US
2
Denver, US
1
ASUlocation not on record
1
University of Southern Mississippilocation not on record
1
San Angelo, US
1
Columbia, US
1
Ypsilanti, US
1
Montréal, CA
1
Oulu, FI
1
Staten Island, US
1
Durham, US
1
North Carolina Museum of Natural Scienceslocation not on record
1
Université Lavallocation not on record
1
Beijing, CN
1
Bern, CH
1
Richmond, US
1
Christchurch, NZ
1
San Luis Obispo, US
1
Fullerton, US
1
Museo civico La Terra e l'Uomo di Crocetta del Montellolocation not on record
1
University of North Carolina at Pembrokelocation not on record
1
University of New Hampshirelocation not on record
1
University of Tennessee at Chattanoogalocation not on record
1
Dover, US
1
Kunming, CN
1
SLU Artdatabankenlocation not on record
1
Jena Microbial Resource Collectionlocation not on record
1
Emporia, US
1
49 institutions · 276 of 280 vouchered records shown · 4 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 DNA3 detections
Where the DNA of Phlox stolonifera 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 found3
Studies independent surveys1
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 3 detections have coordinates
Open the map0 countries0
along road through mixed woods
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.
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 Foundation3 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility1 863 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI3 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics5 specimens↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinesequences↗
GRIN TaxonomyUSDA-ARSdistribution & uses↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
CCDBChromosome Counts DB · Tel Aviv U.genome & karyotype↗
PloiDBPloidy Databasegenome & karyotype
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗