PlantFiles: Golden-Eye Phlox, Roemer Phlox
Phlox roemeriana

Golden-eye phlox (Phlox roemeriana) is an annual endemic Texas native. It may be a plant that goes unnoticied all year until it blooms (if it can fight its way through other plants). It can be found growing natively in the dry well-drained limestone soils of central Texas in the Edwards Plateau and in the adjacent High Plains Regions. Although it usually grows in clay or clay loam on rocky slopes and limestone barrens or more commonly in grasslands on uplands, it occasionally grows in sandier substrates. It is common on roadsides where fall mowing reduces shading by taller warm-season grasses.

It is very low growing typically reaching a height of three to five inches, but sometimes it may grow as tall as twelve inches. The slender 2” long and 3/8” wide leaves are covered with fine hairs and have longer hairs along the margins. The leaves sre alternately arranged on the stem.

It blooms February through May. Although the blooms are small, they standout in a crowd. Usually the bloom is a bright to magenta pink with a lighter pink to white center and a yellow or golden eye. However, the bloom may be a light purple or rarely white. It has pinkish purple lines pointing to the corolla tube which are called nectar guides. These assist insects with locating the center of the bloom, thereby, helpong the bloom become pollinated and helping the insect locate nectar quickly. Blooms of some plants (usually visited by bees) have low ultraviolet reflectance near the center of each petal. These nectar guides can not been seen by the human eye. The fruit are very small, ball-shaped capsules.

I just have to add this interesting report:

"FOILED BY SPIDERS The arrival of an insect-hungry crab spider (Misumenops celer) on a golden-eye phlox blossom (Phlox roemeriana) often spells misfortune for this central Texas wildflower. The spider is a sit-and-wait predator, but before sitting, it remodels its host. By tying together two of the five phlox petals to form a bower, the spider may perhaps be shading itself from the sun or concealing itself from its insect prey. Whatever its purpose, the bower significantly reduces the flower's chances of getting pollinated and setting seed, according to biologist James Ott and his colleagues at Southwest Texas State University. It's not because the spider's handiwork blocks access to the flower's reproductive organs; failure is just as likely even when the bower doesn't cover carpels and stamens. Ott says the next issue to address is what prevents pollination: Do pollinators learn to avoid flowers with bowers or do they get eaten before they can deposit any pollen? ("The effect of spider-mediated flower alteration on seed production in golden-eye phlox," as published in The Southwestern Naturalist 43, 1998.

I couldn't find any information about whether or not he ever found the answer to his question.