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red dome blanketflower, yellow blanket flower

blanket-flower, fire wheel, gaillardia

Habit Perennials (sometimes flowering first year, sometimes rhizomatous), (5–)15–35+ cm. Annuals, perennials, or subshrubs, 10–80+ cm (sometimes rhizomatous).
Stems

usually erect, usually branched (from bases or throughout).

Leaves

basal and cauline, mostly restricted to proximal 1/3–1/2;

petiolar bases 0–5+ cm;

blades mostly oblanceolate to spatulate, 3–6(–12) cm × 3–18(–30) mm, margins mostly pinnatifid, distal sometimes toothed or entire (rarely all linear, entire), faces closely strigillose to shaggily villous.

basal, basal and cauline, or mostly cauline; alternate; petiolate or sessile;

blades mostly elliptic, lanceolate, linear, oblong, obovate, ovate, or spatulate, often pinnately lobed, ultimate margins toothed or entire, faces usually scabrellous to villous (hairs simple or jointed), rarely glabrous, usually notably gland-dotted (except in 10. G. suavis).

Peduncles

(4–)8–25+ cm.

Involucres

hemispheric to nearly rotate, mostly 9–20+ mm diam.

Receptacles

convex to hemispheric, smooth or pitted (often with scattered, hard, setiform enations), epaleate.

Ray florets

0 or 5–14;

corollas usually uniformly yellow, sometimes proximally and/or abaxially reddish, 10–25+ mm.

0, or 5–15+, usually neuter, rarely pistillate and fertile or styliferous and sterile;

corollas yellow to white or orange to red, purplish, or brown, often bicolored (sometimes “ray” corollas funnelform, 5-lobed, heads radiant).

Disc florets

(30–)60–100+;

corollas usually proximally ochroleucous or yellow and distally purplish, rarely wholly yellow, tubes 0.8–1 mm, throats campanulate to plumply urceolate, 3–4.5 mm, lobes broadly deltate to deltate-ovate, 0.5–1 mm, jointed hairs 0.3+ mm.

20–100+, bisexual, fertile;

corollas yellow or orange to red, purplish, or brown (distally ± shaggily hairy, hairs jointed), tubes much shorter than ampliate, campanulate to cylindric or urceolate throats, lobes 5, broadly deltate or ovate (± equal, sometimes attenuate or attenuate-terete apically; style-branch apices ± attenuate, usually hispidulous).

Phyllaries

20–30, ovate- to lanceolate-attenuate, 7–12+ mm, hispidulous to villous (hairs often jointed).

persistent, 14–40+ in 2–3+ series (reflexed in fruit, usually distinct, oblanceolate, lanceolate, narrowly triangular, or linear, subequal to unequal, usually chartaceous proximally, distally herbaceous, apices often attenuate).

Heads

usually radiate or discoid (sometimes radiant), borne singly.

Cypselae

obpyramidal, 1–3 mm, hairs 1–2 mm, inserted at bases and on angles and faces;

pappi of 8–11 lanceolate, aristate scales 3–7 mm (scarious bases 1.5–4 × 0.5–1.5 mm).

obpyramidal to clavate, ± 4-angled (lengths 1–1.5+ diams.), sparsely to densely hairy (at least proximally, hairs straight);

pappi usually persistent, of 6–10+ medially thickened, laterally scarious scales in 1–2 series (all, some, or none aristate), rarely 0.

Receptacular

setae usually 1–3 mm, rarely wanting.

x

= 19.

2n

= 34.

Gaillardia pinnatifida

Gaillardia

Phenology Flowering Mar–Oct, mostly May–Jul.
Habitat Clays or sandy soils, often disturbed places, in grasslands, desert scrub-lands, or pinyon woodlands
Elevation 900–2000 m (3000–6600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CO; NM; NV; OK; TX; UT; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
North America; Mexico; South America (mostly Argentina)
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Some plants, especially from Arizona, included here in Gaillardia pinnatifida, have mostly narrow, undivided leaf blades (mostly 3–8+ mm wide, villous to sparsely strigillose; var. linearis) and intergrade with similar plants called G. multiceps, which have sparsely and minutely hispidulous or glabrate leaf blades.

Plants from Utah with yellow disc corollas and densely gland-dotted leaves, included here in Gaillardia pinnatifida, have been recognized as G. flava.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Species 15–17 or more (11 in the flora).

Some horticultural gaillardias may be derived from hybrids (e.g., Gaillardia ×grandiflora van Houtte) involving G. aristata and some other species (probably G. pulchella). Such horticultural plants sometimes persist after cultivation or occur sporadically as waifs in places well beyond the “natural” ranges of the “parent” species; e.g., scattered localities in Arizona and California.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Leaves all basal (sometimes extending onto proximal 1/3+ of stems in desert annual G. arizonica), blades glabrous or sparsely villous (hairs jointed)
→ 2
1. Leaves basal and cauline or all cauline (restricted to proximal 1/3 or less of plants in some perennials; mostly cauline in annuals), blades hispidulous to scabrellous or strigillose to villous (hairs simple or jointed)
→ 3
2. Ray florets 0 or 7–10, corollas red to purple; disc corollas pinkish or purplish; pappus scales aristate, 6–9 mm
G. suavis
2. Ray florets 10–13, corollas yellow to orange; disc corollas yellow; pappus scales muticous or aristate, 2–5 mm
G. arizonica
3. Receptacles rarely setose (setae 0.1–1 mm); lobes of disc corollas attenuate-terete(bearing jointed hairs to 0.3 mm)
G. aestivalis
3. Receptacles usually setose (setae 0.3–6 mm); lobes of disc corollas ovate to deltate, sometimes attenuate (usually bearing jointed hairs 0.3+ mm, hairs shorter in G. coahuilensis)
→ 4
4. Annuals or perennials (seldom from woody caudices); cypselae hairy (hairs inserted at bases and sometimes on angles, not on faces)
→ 5
4. Perennials (often with woody caudices, seldom flowering first year); cypselae hairy (hairs inserted at bases and on angles and faces)
→ 8
5. Perennials (sometimes flowering first year); leaves basal and cauline; receptacular setae (2–)3–6+ mm
G. aristata
5. Annuals (seldom persisting); leaves all or mostly cauline; receptacular setae mostly 0.3–3 mm
→ 6
6. Hairs on disc corollas to 0.3 mm
G. coahuilensis
6. Hairs on disc corollas 0.3+ mm
→ 7
7. Ray corollas usually bicolored (brown-purple to red proximally, tipped with yellow or orange), rarely unicolored; lobes of disc corollas deltate to ovate, often attenuate, 1–3+ mm; cypselae all alike
G. pulchella
7. Ray corollas usually uniformly dark red to purple, rarely yellow; lobes of disc corollas mostly ovate-deltate to lanceolate, 0.5–1 mm; cypselae dimorphic (outer longer than inner and with shorter pappus scales)
G. amblyodon
8. Leaves (most or all) usually pinnatifid, rarely entire; disc corollas usually purplish or purple-tipped, rarely wholly yellow
G. pinnatifida
8. Leaves (most or all) entire or toothed; disc corollas yellow or purplish
→ 9
9. Leaf blades linear, 3–5(–8+) mm wide, faces sparsely hispidulous or glabrate; disc corollas usually purplish
G. multiceps
9. Leaf blades mostly oblanceolate to spatulate, usually (at least the larger) 10–25 mm wide, faces closely puberulent or sericeous to villous; disc corollas yellow
→ 10
10. Leaves mostly basal, sometimes some to mid stems; peduncles 10–30 cm; cypselae mostly 1–2 mm
G. parryi
10. Leaves mostly cauline; peduncles 2–6(–10) cm; cypselae mostly 3–4 mm
G. spathulata
Source FNA vol. 21, p. 423. FNA vol. 21, p. 421. Author: John L. Strother.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Heliantheae > subtribe Gaillardiinae > Gaillardia Asteraceae > tribe Heliantheae > subtribe Gaillardiinae
Sibling taxa
G. aestivalis, G. amblyodon, G. aristata, G. arizonica, G. coahuilensis, G. multiceps, G. parryi, G. pulchella, G. spathulata, G. suavis
Subordinate taxa
G. aestivalis, G. amblyodon, G. aristata, G. arizonica, G. coahuilensis, G. multiceps, G. parryi, G. pinnatifida, G. pulchella, G. spathulata, G. suavis
Synonyms G. flava, G. gracilis, G. mearnsii, G. pinnatifida var. linearis
Name authority Torrey: Ann. Lyceum Nat. Hist. New York 2: 214. (1827) Fougeroux: Observ. Phys. 29: 55. 1786 (as Gaillarda): Hist. Acad. Roy. Sci. Mém. Math. Phys. (Paris, 4to) 1786: 5. (1788)
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