Hopi blanketflower facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Hopi blanketflower |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Gaillardia
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| Species: |
pinnatifida
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| Synonyms | |
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Synonymy
Gaillardia crassa Rydb.
Gaillardia crassifolia A.Nelson & J.F.Macbr. Gaillardia flava Rydb. Gaillardia globosa A.Nelson Gaillardia gracilis A.Nelson Gaillardia linearis Rydb. Gaillardia mearnsii Rydb. Gaillardia pinnatifida var. linearis (Rydb.) Biddulph Gaillardia straminea A.Nelson |
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Gaillardia pinnatifida, the Hopi blanketflower or red dome blanketflower, is a perennial plant in the sunflower family (Asteraceae) found in northern Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Sonora) and in the south-central and southwestern United States (from southwestern Kansas south to central Texas and west as far as southern Nevada).
Description
Gaillardia pinnatifida is a perennial growing to 22 inches (56 cm) with hairy, wavy to lobed leaves up to 3 inches (7.6 cm) long, growing to halfway up the stem, with a solitary flower head on top having 7-12 yellow ray flowers and numerous densely packed orange-brown to purple disk flowers. The 3-tipped ray flowers may have tips so deep as to be considered lobed.
Gaillardia pinnatifida displays considerable variation in parts of its range, so much so that some authors have divided G. pinnatifida into varieties or distinct species. These taxa do intergrade with each other, so Flora of North America and the Kew Garden Plant List does not recognise any of these as separate taxa. Many populations in Arizona have unlobed leaves, unlike the deeply divided leaves farther to the east, and populations in Utah have yellow rather than brown or purple disc flowers, as well as gland-dots embedded in the leaves.
Habitat
Gaillardia pinnatifida can be found in blackbrush scrub, mixed shrub-grasslands, and pinyon juniper woodland communities.
