How Do I Send a Message to an iPhone Contact Group

I am trying to send a text message to an iphone icloud group that appears in my iphone contacts app.

When I go into Messages and create a new message, I dont see the group listed when i type the group name.

The group does appear in my Contacts app, and it is populated with 15 or so contacts, but it's available for selection in the new message screen.

I do see the group appear when I try the same process in the Mail app, but it's not working in the Messages app.