Sand Phlox has lovely flowers. The strongly cleft lobes of the flowers distinguish it from other Phlox spp. Across its range, Sand Phlox is somewhat variable in the appearance of its flowers and the hairiness of its foliage. Another subspecies of Sand Phlox, Phlox bifida stellaria, has flowers that are cleft to about one-fourth the length of their lobes. The foliage of this subspecies has only non-glandular hairs, while the typical subspecies has both glandular and non-glandular hairs. The subspecies Phlox bifida stellaria is restricted to only 1 or 2 counties in southern Illinois, where it occurs in upland rocky areas. Regardless of the subspecies, another common name for Phlox bifida is Cleft Phlox.