Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Prairie blanket-flower

PRAIRIE BLANKET-FLOWER

File Size: 44 KB

Gaillardia aestivalis H. Rock

[=Gaillardia fastigiata Greene]

McPherson County, Kansas

Short-lived perennial or annual

Height: 8-24 inches

Family: Asteraceae - Sunflower Family

Flowering Period: July, August

Also Called:

Prairie gaillardia, slender-leaf blanket-flower, lance-leaf blanket-flower.

Stems:

Erect, usually single-stemmed, branching above, pubescent or somewhat glandular.

Leaves:

Alternate, 3/5 to 2.4 inches long, 1/8 to 3/5 inch wide, rough-hairy and minutely gland-dotted; lowermost leaves sometimes weakly stemmed, spatulate, entire or with few teeth; upper leaves sessile, narrowly oblanceolate to linear or linear-oblong, entire.

Inflorescences:

Heads 1.2 to 2 inches across, single on axillary and terminal stalks 2/5 to 8 inches long; bracts 15-26, in 2-3 series, lance-ovate to lanceolate, 1/4 to 3/5 inch long, spreading at maturity, tips pointed to tapering-pointed; disk 3/5 to 1 inch across, spherical, covered with small, soft, irregularly-cleft scales.

Flowers:

Ray florets usually 6-15, infrequently absent, fan-shaped; ligule 1/3 to 3/5 inch long, yellow, sometimes reddish at base; tip 3-toothed; disk florets 20-100, corolla brown or purplish-brown; lobes of disk narrowed to long, linear tip.

Fruits:

Achene, inverted pyramidal, 1/12 to 1/8 inch long, basal whorl long hairs, tipped with 8-10 scales; body of scales lanceolate, about 1/4 inch long, midrib tapering to stiff awn.

Habitat:

Dry rocky or sandy prairies, sandy open woods, disturbed areas.

Distribution:

South 2/3 of central third of Kansas.

Origin:

Native

Prairie blanket-flower