# Microsteris

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{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants}}
{{Speciesbox
|image = Microsteris_gracilis_1776.JPG
|genus = Microsteris
|parent_authority = [Greene](/source/Edward_Lee_Greene) (1898)
|species = gracilis
|authority = ([Hook.](/source/William_Jackson_Hooker)) [Greene](/source/Edward_Lee_Greene) (1898)
|subdivision_ranks = Varieties
|subdivision = 
*''Microsteris gracilis'' var. ''gracilis''
*''Microsteris gracilis'' var. ''humilior'' {{small|(Hook.) Cronquist}}
| subdivision_ref = <ref name = powo>[https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:160572-2 ''Microsteris gracilis'' (Hook.) Greene]. ''[Plants of the World Online](/source/Plants_of_the_World_Online)''. Retrieved 19 April 2024.</ref>
|synonyms = 
*''Myotoca'' {{small|Griseb. (1856)}}
*''Collomia gracilis'' {{small|(Hook.) Douglas ex Benth. (1834)}}
*''Gilia gracilis'' {{small|Hook. (1829)}}
*''Navarretia gracilis'' {{small|(Hook.) Kuntze (1891)}}
*''Phlox gracilis'' {{small|(Hook.) Greene (1887)}}
*''Polemonium morenonis'' {{small|Kuntze (1898)}}
|synonyms_ref = <ref name = powo/>
}}

'''''Microsteris''''' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the [phlox family](/source/Polemoniaceae) containing the single species '''''Microsteris gracilis''''', known by the common name '''slender phlox'''.

The segregation of this species into a genus of its own is controversial, and many botanists continue to include the plant in genus ''[Phlox](/source/Phlox)''.<ref>Prather, L. A., C. J. Ferguson, and R. K. Jansen. (2000). [https://web.archive.org/web/20030728174541/http://www.amjbot.org/cgi/content/full/87/9/1300 Polemoniaceae phylogeny and classification: implications of sequence data from the chloroplast gene ''ndhF''.] ''American Journal of Botany'' 87 1300-08.</ref><ref>Ferguson, C. J. and R. K. Jansen. (2002). [https://web.archive.org/web/20030801221716/http://www.amjbot.org/cgi/content/full/89/8/1324 A chloroplast DNA phylogeny of eastern ''Phlox'' (Polemoniaceae): implications of congruence and incongruence with the ITS phylogeny.] ''American Journal of Botany'' 89 1324-35.</ref> Genetic analysis is continuing.

==Distribution==
''Microsteris gracilis'' is native to western North America from northwestern Canada to the American Midwest and West Coast, through [Mexico](/source/Mexico), as well as parts of South America. It is [native](/source/native_plant) to all the diverse plant communities in [California](/source/California).<ref>[http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?5654,5899,5907 Jepson eFlora: Distribution map for ''Microsteris gracilis'' in California]</ref>

left|thumb|upright|The flower has a tubular yellow throat encased in a tubular gladular-hairy calyx. Corolla lobes are just 1 to 2 mm long.

==Description==
''Microsteris gracilis'' is an annual herb which is variable in shape, taking a decumbent, branching, sometimes almost tuftlike form or growing erect and very slender. Its maximum height approaches 20 centimeters, but it may be much smaller.

The lance-shaped leaves are 1 to 3 centimeters long and oppositely arranged except for the upper ones, which are alternate. The herbage is glandular and hairy in texture. The [inflorescence](/source/inflorescence) at the top of the stem bears one or more small flowers.

The flower has a tubular throat around a centimeter long encased in a tubular calyx of [sepal](/source/sepal)s. The flat corolla has five flat-tipped or notched lobes just 1 or 2 millimeters long. The flower is white to bright pink with a yellowish throat.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?5654,5899,5907 Jepson Manual Treatment of ''Microsteris gracilis'']
*[https://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=MIGR USDA Plants Profile for ''Microsteris gracilis'' (slender phlox)]
*[http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?query_src=photos_index&where-taxon=Microsteris+gracilis ''Microsteris gracilis'' — U.C. Photo gallery]
{{Commons category|Microsteris gracilis|position=left}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q15396409}}

Category:Monotypic Ericales genera
Category:Polemoniaceae
Category:Flora of Mexico
Category:Flora of Western Canada
Category:Flora of the Northwestern United States
Category:Flora of the Southwestern United States
Category:Flora of California
Category:Flora of Nebraska
Category:Flora of South Dakota
Category:Flora of Southern America
Category:Flora of the California desert regions
Category:Flora of the Cascade Range
Category:Flora of the Great Basin
Category:Flora of the Klamath Mountains
Category:Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States)
Category:Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands
Category:Natural history of the California Coast Ranges
Category:Natural history of the Peninsular Ranges
Category:Natural history of the Transverse Ranges
Category:Polemoniaceae genera
Category:Flora without expected TNC conservation status
Category:Plants described in 1829
Category:Taxa named by William Jackson Hooker

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Microsteris](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsteris) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsteris?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.