A genus of colorful flowering plants in the phlox family, native to the Americas, often grown in gardens for their delicate blue, pink, or white flowers.
Named after Felipe Gil, an 18th-century Spanish botanist. The genus was formally named by Linnaeus, the father of modern plant classification. The plant family had long been known to Indigenous peoples before European botanical naming conventions documented it.
The plant genus Gilia shows how European botanists literally put their own names on plants discovered in the Americas—a legacy of colonialism, though today many rediscover these plants' original Indigenous names and uses.
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