phlox

phlox

noun \ˈfläks\

plural phlox or phlox·es

Definition of PHLOX

: any of a genus (Phlox of the family Polemoniaceae, the phlox family) of American annual or perennial herbs that have red, purple, white, or variegated flowers, a salverform corolla with the stamens on its tube, and a 3-valved capsular fruit

Illustration of PHLOX

Origin of PHLOX

New Latin, from Latin, a flower, from Greek, flame, wallflower

First Known Use: circa 1706

Rhymes with PHLOX

box, cox, fox, lox, ox, pax, pox

phlox

noun    (Concise Encyclopedia)

Moss pink (Phlox subulata)—Russ Kinne/Photo Researchers

Any of about 65 species of plants (genus Phlox), belonging to the family Polemoniaceae, admired both in gardens and in the wilds for their clustered heads of flowers. All species but one are native to North America. Phlox is herbaceous, usually with oval or linear leaves; it has heads of massed tubular flowers with five flaring lobes. A few species are woody, but most are herbaceous annuals or perennials. Sizes range from the 5-ft-high (1.5-m) summer phlox (P. paniculata) to the 18-in.-high (45-cm) woodland perennial blue phlox (P. divaricata) to the low-creeping, freely branching, evergreen moss pink, or creeping phlox (P. subulata).