Gaillardia pulchella
Blanket Flower, Firewheel
- Family: Asteraceae
- Form: Annual or short-lived perennial wildflower, reaching 1 to 3 ft. in height and about twice as wide.
- Leaves: Simple, alternate, sessile, and hirsute. Grayish green in color. Leaves exhibit a lot of variation in shape and size. Upper leaves are narrow, spatulate, and
the lower leaves are wider, oblanceolate, longer, and heavily toothed or pinnately lobed.
- Stem/Bark: Herbaceous, green, hirsute or pubescent.
- Flower: Solitary heads attached to a long peduncle. Purplish disk flowers and reddish orange ray petals that are often yellow and lobed at the tips. The ray flowers have considerable variation in color. Some are bicolor but they may be either all red
or all yellow. Size of the flower varies from 1.5 to 3 inches in diameter.
- Fruit: Indehiscent, non-ornamental achene.
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Comments: Gaillardia aestivalis is also native to FL although not as showy and with a narrower range. The hybrid Gaillardia x grandiflora shares the parents of G. aristata and G. pulchella. Numerous non-native cultivars of G. pulchella exist including 'Lollipop Gold', 'Red Plume', 'Torch Red Ember' and 'Yellow Flame'.
- Additional Resources:
UF IFAS Extension Native Plant Fact Sheet Listings
Wikipedia Link
Florida Native Plant Society
