Plant Name
Scientific Name: Gaillardia pulchella
Common Names: Firewheel, Indian Blanket, Blanket Flower
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Annual, Biennial, Perennial
Growth Habit: Subshrub, Herb/Forb
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Desert, Upland. This wildflower has many cultivated varieties and is often included in wildflower seed mixes. It reseeds readily and can be found growing along roadsides where it may have been planted in years past.
Flower Color: Mostly red rays with yellow tips
Flowering Season: Spring, Summer
Height: To 2 feet (61 cm) tall
Description: The showy flower heads are up to 3 inches (7.6 cm) wide and have a brownish red central disk and 8 to 14, three-cleft rays. The flame-like rays are red with yellow at the tips. The leaves are green, linear, oblong, or spoon-shaped, and may be toothed or lobed. The stems are decumbent. This plant is usually an annual here.
The similar Common Gaillardia (Gaillardia aristata) is a perennial and has oblanceolate to lanceolate leaves.
Special Characteristics
Butterfly Plant – The flowers attract butterflies.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Asteridae
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae – Aster family
Genus: Gaillardia Foug. – blanketflower
Species: Gaillardia pulchella Foug. – firewheel
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