Phlox Drummondii: An Annual That Attracts Familiar and Unusual Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds (family Trochilidae) are attracted to clusters of brightly colored flowers, specifically orange, orange-red, pink, and red. Another attractor is a tubular blossom, a long, narrow shape that perfectly suits hummingbirds' long bills and tongues for extracting nectar. Another important feature is widespread distribution of flowers for easy accessibility and availability. All of these irresistible criteria are found in the floriferous Phlox drummondii. Moreover, Phlox drummondii blends well in borders and beds with its popular companion plants, petunias (genus Petunia) and scarlet sage (Salvia splendens), both of which likewise are favored by hummingbirds.

Phlox drummondii is commonly known as annual phlox or Drummond's phlox.

The genus Phlox (Greek: φλόξ, phlox, "flame") comprises 67 species of annuals and perennials. The first recognition of the existence of an annual species within the genus Phlox occurred in 1835 with the botanical description of Phlox drummondii.

Native to the United States, annual phlox is a New World plant whose discovery was less than three centuries ago. Specifically, all Phlox annuals trace their nativity to the massive area of the state of Texas east of the Pecos River, which flows southeasterly from the southeastern corner of New Mexico into the extreme western sector of Texas and joins the Rio Grande near the west central border city of Del Rio.

Typical of its genus, annual phlox may be grown in a variety of environments, from prairie to woodland to alpine tundra (Russian тундра from Kildin Sami: tū̄ndra, "of the treeless plain").

Although Phlox drummondii favors acidic to neutral soil that is sandy and fertile, it accepts a variety of well-drained soils.

Also Phlox drummondii congenially flourishes in a range of light conditions, from dappled shade to full sun.

Phlox drummondii grows in a variety of climates. The delicate but hardy plant is capable of surviving light freezes of temperatures in the 20s Fahrenheit (below 0° Celsius).

Annual phlox may reach a height of 20 inches (50.8 centimeters), although usually it ranges between 6 to 12 inches (about 15 to 30 centimeters) in height.

Its soft leaves are slightly sticky. Fine hairs blanket stems and leaves as well as appearing on the flowers.

Pinching off older stems encourages new branching. Similarly, deadheading (removing old or faded flowers) elicits a longer blooming season until frost.

Typical of its family, Polemoniaceae, Phlox drummondii flowers have five sepals and five brightly colored petals. Characteristically, annual phlox's petals are united to form a tubular corolla (Latin: corolla, diminutive of corona, "crown"), the collective botanical term for all of the petals. Thus, the slender tube of the corolla at the base flares out into a wide, flat limb (the flat, spreading part or border of the petals).

Sepals are special leaves that lie beneath the corolla. Also typical of its family, Phlox drummondii has a calyx (Greek: κύλιξ, kylix, "drinking cup"), i.e., all the sepals collectively, that is a fused tube. The calyx tube is about one-third of the length of the corolla tube.

The flower's eye (center of the corolla around the tube or throat) often offers a dark or light contrast with the overall floral color that may be striking or subtle. Phlox  drummondii flowers exhibit a rainbow of colors, ranging from:

". . . pale yellow and white through pink, lilac, rose, blue, purple, red to almost black, both in solid colors and in various combinations of eyed patterns . . . . There are many varieties in which the . . . 'eye' . . . is only a little deeper in shade than the rest of the corolla . . . . other sorts . . . have the center . . . markedly different from the rest of the corolla, or that are chiefly of one color striated with another. There are even tri-colored sorts having a colored flower with a white eye with spots of a different color included within the eye. . . ." (James P. Kelly, "Cultivated varieties of Phlox drummondii," pp. 179-180)

Phlox drummondii is named in honor of Scottish naturalist Thomas Drummond (ca. 1790 - 1835), who collected 750 plant species and 150 bird specimens during a twenty-one month botanical survey of the area between the barrier island of Galveston Island along the central east Texas coast and the Edwards Plateau in west central Texas from March 1833 to December 1834. Drummond experienced physical hardships during his survey, including contracting cholera and suffering from diarrhea.

The inveterate botanizer planned a brief visit to Cuba, sailing there on February 9, 1835, from Apalachicola in northwestern Florida, with the expectation of thence journeying to Key West, surveying Florida, and bringing his wife Isobel Mungo Drummond (b. ca. 1795) and children, Ann (b. ca. 1821) and Isabella (b. ca. 1824) over from Glamis, Scotland to settle on land in Texas. Unfortunately, news came from the Consul in Havana, Cuba in March 1835 that Drummond had passed away suddenly from an unspecified illness.

Seeds of this unspecified Phlox species were sent to Sir William Jackson Hooker (July 6, 1785 - August 12, 1865), who was at the time Regius ("Royal") Professor of Botany at the University of Glasgow and later, in 1841, was appointed as the first official Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Plants were first grown in England from Drummond's seeds by Alexander Campbell (c. 1795 - 1877), Curator since 1831 of the Manchester Botanical and Horticultural Gardens in Old Trafford.

Dr. Hooker published the first botanical description of Drummond's plant, naming it in the collector's honor and extolling

". . . the present very handsome species of Phlox. The seeds sent over, in the early part of the year 1835, soon vegetated, the plants blossomed most copiously, and with equal profusion and brilliancy of colour, whether in the greenhouse or in the open border; and it bids fair to be a great ornament to the gardens of our country." (Curtis's Botanical Magazine, Volume 62 [new series volume 9], plate 3441, October 1, 1835)

Thus, this "charmingly variable" species, named by a renowned botanist for a heroic pioneer in botanical collecting, was introduced into English gardens. (W. Botting Hemsley, p. xxxvi)

Phlox drummondii seeds were subsequently dispersed from England for sprouting near and afar. Particularly in Germany varieties were cultivated extensively. In fact, the seed catalog published in 1914 by Haage and Schmidt Nursery in Erfurt, Germany, listed 173 varieties of Phlox drummondii.

Back in its native country across the Atlantic, Phlox drummondii was distributed to growers by Albany, New York-based Buel and Wilson Nursery, having obtained their seeds from London in 1836. Two years later in 1838 Boston-based Hovey's Magazine of Horticulture noted the availability of six varieties of Phlox drummondii through American growers.

On the other side of the world, Thomas' brother James Drummond (1786/1787 - March 26, 1863), who had moved to western Australia in 1829 as one of the early settlers of the Swan River Colony, noted in 1842 --- only seven years after its discovery --- that Phlox drummondii were thriving in Augusta, on Australia's southwest coast, in gardens planted by Georgiana Molloy (May 23, 1805 - April 8, 1843), an early settler who is regarded as one of Australia's first botanical collectors.

With its brightly colored flowers, Drummond's phlox attracts the attention of such nectar lovers as hummingbirds, which appreciate the expansion of the showy-flowered annual beyond its native range. Among devoted consumers of Phlox drummondii's nectar are Rufous hummingbirds (Selasphorus rufus), a familiarly abundant native of northwestern North America, and Green Violet-ear (Colibri thalassinus), an unusual visitor from its native range of southern Mexico to western Bolivia.

Known commonly as Rufous Hummingbird, Selasphorus rufus is a northwestern North American hummingbird, with a native summer range from southern Alaska southward through eastern Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta and into the northwestern United States.

Rufous hummingbirds are inveterate fliers, with autumn stopovers in the Great Lakes region and in New England. Their southern and eastern winter migration stretches as far south as the state of Guerrero (Estado Libre y Soberano de Guerrero) in southwestern Mexico and as far southeast as Florida and the Gulf Coast as well as the Commonwealth of the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands in the western North Atlantic Ocean.

Nest sites favor woodlands in which conifers (Latin: conus, “cone” + ferre, “to bear”) dominate and with wildflowers in nearby openings.

Migration habitats vary greatly and include gardens and orchards. Rufous hummingbirds also frequent sugar-water feeders.

Considered small in size, Rufous hummingbirds range in length from 2.8 to 3.5 inches (7 to 9 centimeters).

Selasphorus rufus receives its name from its predominant color of rufous, a reddish-brown or rust coloring. Throats swathed in golden red distinguish males. Females often display glittering green backs, and their throats are spotted in green.

In addition to Phlox drummondii, Rufous hummingbirds especially favor red-flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum). Their diet also features insects. In their foraging Rufous hummingbirds display aggressive feistiness in their fearless willingness to chase much larger hummingbird species from nectar sources, including feeders.

Known commonly as Green Violet-ear or Green Violetear, Colibri thalassinus is native to forested highlands of southern Mexico southward into Central American countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and western Panama and into northwestern South America (western Venezuela, western Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and western Bolivia).

Clocked in a chase at 90 miles per hour (140 kilometers/hour), Colibri thalassinus is credited with the greatest recorded flying speed for a hummingbird.

A medium-sized hummingbird, Green Violet-ear has an average length of 3.8 to 4.7 inches (9.7 to 12 centimeters).

Its bill, which tends toward black, averages close to an inch (0.71 to 0.98 inches; 1.8 to 2.5 centimeters) in length. Characteristically its bill, mostly straight, curves slightly downward at the tip.

Its tail, which measures 1.4 to 1.7 inches (3.5 to 4.3 centimeters), exhibits a colorful bands of metallic blue-green, bronze, and black.

Green Violet-ear has a shimmering green body. Violet ear patches glitter on the sides of its neck.

Despite their wide native geographic range, Colibri thalassinus has a penchant for wandering and has been known to stray far in North America, from regular visits in Texas to as far north as Michigan, Wisconsin, and Canada. In their peregrinations in the United States and Canada, Green Violet-ears frequent bird feeders in urban and suburban habitats.

Green Violet-ear's diet consists primarily of insects and nectar, of which annual phlox is a favorite.

For untold eons Phlox drummondii lived as a lively wildflower, quietly adorning its native Texas landscapes. Since its fairly recent, official discovery, the exuberantly flowering species has continuously charmed its horticultural recipients and graced public and private vistas, with the added attraction of its floral siren call to all nectar-sipping hummingbirds, including familiar hummers such as rufous hummingbirds (Selasphorus rufous) and unusual buzzers such as Green Violet-Ear (Colibri thalassinus). As a result it has a worldwide following with appreciation for its apparently endless reincarnations, as new, newer, and newest varieties announce spring in a magical parade of subtle and showy expanses of the color spectrum.

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

My special thanks also to U.S.D.A. Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS Database for their species distribution maps.

vicinity of Archer Historical Society Museum, north central Florida: Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phlox_drummondii_-_Archer_FL_02.jpg

south of Pecos River High Bridge: confluence of Pecos and Rio Grande, with hills of Coahuila state, Mexico, on horizon.: Badener, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pecos_River.jpg

Only native and naturalized populations are mapped: USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, via USDA PLANTS Database @ http://plants.usda.gov/java/county?state_name=Texas&statefips;=48&symbol;=PHDR

PHDR Phlox drummondii Hook. annual phlox: USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, via USDA PLANTS Database @ https://plants.usda.gov/home/plantProfile?symbol=phdr

illustration by Sarah Ann Drake (July 24, 1803 – July 9, 1857): "Phlox drummondii," Edwards's Botanical Register (1837): Plate 1949, Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/240561

crayon portrait held at Kew Gardens: Dr. Spaulding, Biographical History (1909), p.49, Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/1660519; Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/popularsciencemo74newy/page/49/mode/1up?view=theater

1834 portrait; F.W. Oliver, Makers of British Botany (1913), opposite page 126: Public Domain, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/makersofbritishb00oliv/page/n162/mode/1up; via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/1073529

c.1829 miniature painted prior to Georgiana's departure from England as settler in Swan River Colony, Western Australia: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Georgiana_Molloy_2.jpg

Trout Lake, Klickitat County, southwestern Washington: Kathy and sam (kat+sam), CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/39871249@N07/3714438914/

5249 feet (1600 meters) above sea level: Hotel Finca Lérida, Boquete, Chiriquí province, western coastal Panama: Mdf, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Colibri-thalassinus-002.jpg

Richland, west central Florida: Malcolm Manners (mmmavocado), CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/mmmavocado/2404858842/

pure beauty of white Phlox drummondii: Udo Schröter, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/nordelch/3862456934/

Along US Highway 98, about 10 miles southeast of Dade City, Pasco County, west central Florida: Malcolm Manners (mmmavocado), CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/10239508@N07/5544968309/

Drummond's phlox: CC Rogers, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/26137056@N05/3436934444/

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