NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/654753
42 NEBRASKAland • APRIL 2016 Alyssum-leaf phlox (P. alyssifolia) is another Great Plains species. While common in and about the nearby Black Hills of South Dakota, this is Nebraska's rarest phlox, limited to Dawes County in the far northwest corner of the state. It is a plant of rocky bluffs, ridges and badlands. Unlike the more upright plains phlox, alyssum-leaf phlox grows as a mound of stems and shoots (3-4 inches tall) that radiate out from a central crown. The leaves are small but not as narrow and needle-like as many of the western species. The flowers are relatively large and showy, purple to pink in color, and produced in abundance in late spring and early summer. The Nebraska Panhandle is famous for its dramatic geology, with iconic landforms like Courthouse Rock and Crow Butte. It is in these settings that Hood's phlox (P. hoodii) flourishes. Hood's phlox is a mat forming species, but its leaves and flowers are considerably smaller than alyssum-leaf phlox and its stems shorter (2-3 inches tall), resulting in a more compact, low-profile plant that can hunker down out of the wind and maximize the scant moisture available in such dry habitat. When not in bloom, a Hood's phlox plant is a rather nondescript carpet of interwoven stems and tiny, needle- like leaves. But during the height of its spring flowering season, it will be blanketed with sparkling white flowers. Hood's phlox is the most widespread of the western species, ranging from the Great Plains through the Rockies into the Pacific Northwest. Throughout most of its vast distribution it is associated with sagebrush shrubland, where it is part of a thin understory of low-growing wildflowers and grasses. In my opinion, the beauty of Hood's phlox is much more favorably displayed on the rocky top of Scotts Bluff. One of the ways phlox deal with really tough environments is to simply go small. Moss phlox (P. muscoides) is a case in point. The shoots of this cushion- forming species are very short (2 inches or less) and the PLAINS PHLOX are found in the western part of the Sandhills and the sandsage prairie region of southwestern Nebraska. ALYSSUM PHLOX are common in the Black Hills of South Dakota and is Nebraska's rarest phlox.