phlox family - a widely distributed family of chiefly herbaceous plants of the order Polemoniales; often have showy flowersasterid dicot family - family of more or less advanced dicotyledonous herbs and some trees and shrubs order Polemoniales, Polemoniales - Polemoniaceae; Solanaceae; Boraginaceae; Labiatae; Lentibulariaceae; Pedaliaceae; in some classifications includes the order Scrophulariales genus Phlox - herbaceous to shrubby evergreen or deciduous annuals or perennials, diffuse (spreading) or caespitose (tufted or matted); from Alaska and western Canada to Mexico |