Gaillardia pulchella

Last updated

Gaillardia pulchella
Gaillardia in Aspen (91273).jpg
Indian blanket inflorescence
Status TNC G4.svg
Apparently Secure  (NatureServe) [1]
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Gaillardia
Species:
G. pulchella
Binomial name
Gaillardia pulchella
Synonyms [2]
Synonymy
  • Calonnea pulcherrimaBuc'hoz
  • Gaillardia bicolorLam.
  • Gaillardia drummondii(Hook.) DC.
  • Gaillardia lobataBuckley
  • Gaillardia neomexicanaA.Nelson
  • Gaillardia pictaD.Don
  • Gaillardia scabrosaBuckley
  • Gaillardia villosaRydb.
  • Galordia alternifoliaRaeusch.

Gaillardia pulchella (firewheel, Indian blanket, Indian blanketflower, or sundance) is a North American species of short-lived perennial or annual flowering plants in the sunflower family. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

Contents

Description

The branching stem of G. pulchella is hairy and upright, growing to 60 centimetres (24 inches) tall. [9] The leaves are alternate, mostly basal, 4–8 cm (1+583+18 in) long, with edges smooth to coarsely toothed or lobed. It has a hairy stem, simple or branched near the base, where the leaves are essentially located towards the bottom of the plant.

The pinwheel, daisy-like inflorescences are 4–6.5 cm in diameter, [9] vividly colored with red, orange and yellow and is surrounded by 10 to 20 ray florets up to 2 cm; [9] the ligule has three lobes. The central disc florets of the flower head tend to be more red-violet, with the outer ray florets being yellow. In one variety, almost the entire flower is red, with only the barest tips of the petals touched with yellow. It typically blooms from May to July, [9] but does so practically year-round in some areas.

The fruit is an achene, almost pyramidal, hairy, and prolonged by a pappus 5 to 8 millimetres (316 to 516 in) in length. [10] [11]

Distribution and habitat

It is native to northern Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Sonora, Tamaulipas) and the southern and central United States from Arizona east to Florida and the Carolinas and north as far as Nebraska. [12] It is also naturalized in scattered locations in other parts of the U.S. as well as in Québec, Ontario, [9] China, South Africa, and parts of Central and South America.[ citation needed ] The plant generally lives in the sandy plains and deserts of the south of the North American continent. It is common along the roads and prefers sandy soils. It can also grow on vacant lots in urban areas, but generally below 1,000 metres (3,300 feet) above sea level. [13]

The flower has also been introduced to the Penghu (Pescadores) Islands in Taiwan, where it is the County Flower of Penghu County. It is called tiānrén jú (天人菊; " tianren daisy") in Chinese. [14]

Ecology

The plant is a larval host to the bordered patch butterfly (Chlosyne lacinia) and the painted schinia moth (Schinia volupia), which feed upon its foliage. [15]

Cultivation

G. pulchella is a hardy plant, not picky about soil, though sandy and well-drained are best. It has a high drought tolerance and does best with a dry, hot climate in full sun. Its vibrantly colored flowers can be seen carpeting fields and the sides of highways for miles in the summer to late fall. Favored by honeybees, it produces a dark reddish amber buttery tasting honey. In the garden, the flowers can be deadheaded to promote further blooming. It self-seeds freely.

Cultivars

'Torch Yellow' cultivar Gaillardia pulchella 'Torch Yellow'.jpg
'Torch Yellow' cultivar

Gaillardia pulchella (with the perennial Gaillardia aristata ) is the parent of Gaillardia × grandiflora , a hybrid, from which several cultivars have been created. One of these is 'Sundance Bicolor', a perennial double-form with the flower heads having florets of alternating red and yellow. Because of its bright colors, it is well adapted in the sun. Others are 'Goblin' and 'Tangerine'. [16] [17]

Culture

It is the state wildflower of Oklahoma.

Related Research Articles

<i>Gaillardia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Gaillardia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, native to North and South America. It was named after Maître Gaillard de Charentonneau, an 18th-century French magistrate who was an enthusiastic botanist. The common name may refer to the resemblance of the inflorescence to the brightly patterned blankets made by Native Americans, or to the ability of wild taxa to blanket the ground with colonies. Many cultivars have been bred for ornamental use.

<i>Rudbeckia hirta</i> Species of flowering plant

Rudbeckia hirta, commonly called black-eyed Susan, is a North American flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to Eastern and Central North America and naturalized in the Western part of the continent as well as in China. It has now been found in all 10 Canadian Provinces and all 48 of the states in the contiguous United States.

<i>Monoptilon bellioides</i> Species of flowering plant

Monoptilon bellioides, the desert star, also called Mojave desertstar, is a desert flowering plant in the family Asteraceae.

<i>Anisocoma</i> Genus of flowering plants

Anisocoma acaulis, commonly known as the scale bud, is a wildflower found in the Mojave, Colorado Deserts, and California's Owens Valley above 610 metres (2,000 ft), up to about 2,100 m (7,000 ft).

<i>Geraea canescens</i> Species of flowering plant

Geraea canescens, commonly known as desert sunflower, hairy desert sunflower, or desert gold, is an annual plant in the family Asteraceae. The genus name comes from the Greek geraios, referring to the white hairs on the fruits.

<i>Psilostrophe cooperi</i> Species of plant

Psilostrophe cooperi is a flowering plant in the daisy family known by the common names Cooper's paper daisy and whitestem paperflower. It is native to the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of California, the Southwestern United States, and northwestern Mexico.

<i>Erigeron philadelphicus</i> Species of flowering plant

Erigeron philadelphicus, the Philadelphia fleabane, is a species of flowering plant in the composite family (Asteraceae). Other common names include common fleabane, daisy fleabane, frost-root, marsh fleabane, poor robin's plantain, skevish or skervish, and, in the British Isles, robin's-plantain, but all of these names are shared with other species of fleabanes (Erigeron). It is native to North America and has been introduced to Eurasia.

<i>Erigeron glaucus</i> Species of flowering plant

Erigeron glaucus is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name seaside fleabane, beach aster, or seaside daisy. It is native to the West Coast of the United States.

<i>Gaillardia aristata</i> Species of flowering plant

Gaillardia aristata is a North American species of flowering plant in the sunflower family, known by the common names common blanketflower and common gaillardia. This perennial wildflower is widespread across much of North America, from Yukon east to Québec and south as far as California, Arizona, Illinois, and Connecticut, although it may be naturalized rather than native in parts of that range. It is also naturalized in scattered locations in Europe, Australia, and South America.

<i>Hulsea algida</i> Species of flowering plant

Hulsea algida is a species of flowering plant in the daisy family, known by the common name Pacific hulsea or alpine gold. It is native to the western United States.

<i>Agoseris aurantiaca</i> Species of flowering plant

Agoseris aurantiaca is a species of plant in the family Asteraceae, commonly called orange agoseris or mountain dandelion. It is widespread in western North America.

<i>Arnica cordifolia</i> Species of flowering plant

Arnica cordifolia is a species of arnica in the sunflower family, known by the common name heartleaf arnica. It is native to western North America.

<i>Arnica fulgens</i> Species of flowering plant

Arnica fulgens is a species of arnica known by the common names foothill arnica and hillside arnica. It is native to western North America, from British Columbia east to Saskatchewan and south as far as Inyo County, California, and McKinley County, New Mexico. It grows in open, grassy areas.

<i>Crepis acuminata</i> Species of flowering plant

Crepis acuminata is a North American species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name tapertip hawksbeard. It is native to the western United States where it grows in many types of open habitat.

<i>Machaeranthera tanacetifolia</i> Species of flowering plant

Machaeranthera tanacetifolia is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names tansyleaf tansyaster and Tahoka daisy.

<i>Helenium flexuosum</i> Species of flowering plant

Helenium flexuosum is a North American plant species in the daisy family known by the common name purple sneezeweed. It is widespread across much of eastern and central United States and Canada, from Nova Scotia west to Ontario, Minnesota, and Kansas, south to Florida, Louisiana, and eastern Texas.

<i>Gaillardia pinnatifida</i> Species of flowering plant

Gaillardia pinnatifida, the Hopi blanketflower or red dome blanketflower, is a perennial plant in the family Asteraceae found in northern Mexico and in the south-central and southwestern United States.

<i>Arnica lanceolata</i> Species of flowering plant

Arnica lanceolata is a North American species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, known by the common name clasping arnica or lanceleaf arnica. It has a disjunct (discontinuous) distribution in western North America and northeastern North America.

<i>Cirsium texanum</i> Species of thistle

Cirsium texanum is a species of plant in the tribe Cardueae within the family Asteraceae found in North America. Common names include Texas thistle, Texas purple thistle or southern thistle. The species is native to northern Mexico and the southern Great Plains of the south-central United States. It grows in prairies and roadsides.

<i>Erigeron poliospermus</i> Species of flowering plant

Erigeron poliospermus is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names gray-seeded fleabane, purple cushion fleabane, and hairy-seed fleabane. Native to western North America, it is mainly found to the east of the Cascade Range in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.

References

  1. NatureServe (4 August 2023). "Gaillardia pulchella". NatureServe Explorer. Arlington, Virginia. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  2. "Gaillardia pulchella Foug. — The Plant List". www.theplantlist.org.
  3. Turner, B. L. 2013. The comps of Mexico. A systematic account of the family Asteraceae (chapter 11: tribe Helenieae). Phytologia Memoirs 16: 1–100
  4. Jørgensen, P. M., M. H. Nee & S. G. Beck. (eds.) 2014. Catálogo de las plantas vasculares de Bolivia, Monographs in systematic botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 127(1–2): i–viii, 1–1744
  5. Nelson, C. H. 2008. Catálogo de las Plantas Vasculares de Honduras 1–1576. Secretaria de Recursos Naturales y Ambiente, Tegucigalpa
  6. Gibbs Russell, G. E., W. G. M. Welman, E. Retief, K. L. Immelman, G. Germishuizen, B. J. Pienaar, M. Van Wyk & A. Nicholas. 1987. List of species of southern African plants. Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa 2(1–2): 1–152(pt. 1), 1–270(pt. 2).
  7. "Gaillardia pulchella in Flora of China @ efloras.org". www.efloras.org.
  8. NRCS. "Gaillardia pulchella". PLANTS Database. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Spellenberg, Richard (2001) [1979]. National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers: Western Region (rev ed.). Knopf. pp. 374–375. ISBN   978-0-375-40233-3.
  10. "Gaillardia pulchella in Flora of North America @ efloras.org". www.efloras.org.
  11. "Gaillardia pulchella". Germplasm Resources Information Network . Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture . Retrieved 24 December 2017.
  12. "Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map".
  13. MacMahon JA (1997) Deserts, National Audubon Society Nature Guides, AA Knopf Inc. ISBN   0-394-73139-5
  14. "Penghu County Flower". Archived from the original on 2014-09-03.
  15. The Xerces Society (2016), Gardening for Butterflies: How You Can Attract and Protect Beautiful, Beneficial Insects, Timber Press.
  16. "Gaillardia pulchella 'Sundance Bicolor'". www.colostate.edu. Archived from the original on 2003-09-12.
  17. "Seeds and More: Gaillardia 'Sundance Bicolor'". Archived from the original on 2009-05-07.