Phlox buckleyi explained

Phlox buckleyi, common name swordleaf phlox or shale-barren phlox, is a plant species native to Virginia and West Virginia. It grows in open woodlands, primarily on hillsides derived from shale. The first known specimen was first collected in 1838 but not described as a species until 1930.

Phlox buckleyi is a perennial herb spreading by means of stolons running on the surface of the ground. Rosettes of long, narrow, evergreen leaves form at the tips of the stolons, from the center of which arises a vertical stem up to 40 cm (16 inches) tall. Inflorescence is a cyme or a paniculate group of cymes. Flowers are bright purple with lighter purple nearer the center but very dark purple at the very center.^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}

Notes and References

1. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/39921382#page/42/mode/1up Wherry, Edgar Theodore. 1930. A long lost Phlox. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences 20:25-28
2. http://www.tropicos.org/ImageFullView.aspx?imageid=12200 Photo of holotype of Phlox buckleyi at herbarium of Missouri Botanical Garden
3. Gleason, H. A. & A.J. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of the Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada (ed. 2) i–910. New York Botanical Garden, Bronx.
4. Gleason, H. A. 1968. The Sympetalous Dicotyledoneae. vol. 3. 596 pp. In H. A. Gleason. New Britton and Brown Illustrated Flora of the Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. New York Botanical Garden, New York.