Kingdom: Plantae

Phylum: Magnoliophyta -- flowering plants

Class: Magnoliopsida -- dicots

Order: Asterales

Family: Asteraceae -- sunflower

Common Name: blanketflower

Species Code: GAAR

Origin: Native to open mesic grasslands and open forests from British Columbia to Saskatchewan and south to Oregon and Colorado.

Rare: no

Form: forb, perennial from a taproot, pubescent throughout, 20-70 cm tall.

Duration: perennial

Longevity: short-lived

Habitat Type: prairie, shrub thickets

Wetland Indicator Status: not listed

Leaves: basal or alternate, narrow, linear-oblong to lanceolate-ovate, entire or toothed or pinnatifid.

Mature height: 12-22 inches

Flowers: borne on long peduncles; ray flowers yellow, tips divided into 3 lobes, often reddish to purple at the base, usually sterile but sometimes pistillate and fertile; disc flowers perfect, reddish to purple, densely woolly toward the tip; involucral bracts acuminate, loosely hairy, spreading, chartaceous at the base, 8-20 mm long.

Flower color: yellow, red

Bloom: June, July

Bloom starts on: early June

Bloom ends on: late July

Fruit: achene, turbinate, base tufted; pappus composed of stiff scales.

Characteristics:
199,000 seeds/lb (Hassell et al 1996).
186,436 seeds/lb (USDA NRCS Pullman PMC 2005).
Reproduces sexually by seed.
Short lived but reseeds readily.
Taprooted.
2n=34, 36, 68, 72 (Baldwin et al 2004).
2n = 34, 68 (Flora of North America Editorial Committee 1993).
n=18 (Cooper 1935, Hitchcock et al 1969).
n=17 (University of British Columbia 2003).
Aneuploidy and polyploidy are present.
Insect pollinated.
Disc flowers are perfect. Ray flowers are sometimes pistillate and fertile but generally are sterile.
Had medicinal uses among some Native American people.
Fruit is an achene.
Seeds may be windborne for slight distances and are probably also dispersed short distances by animals brushing against the stiff stems.
Seeds may be eaten by some songbirds, but the plants have little value to wildlife (Sedivec & Barker 1998).
Rodents will sometimes eat the crowns over winter.

Comments: The midwestern native Gaillardia pulchella Foug. and the hybrid Gaillardia x grandiflora Van Houtte (G. aristata x G. pulchella) are common in the nursery trade. Neither is native to the Palouse.

Sun requirement: full

Soil moisture: mesic

Precipitation: 16-30 inches (USDA NRCS PLANTS Database 2009).

Sowing time: spring

Transplant time: spring

Stratification: none required

Seed yield: high

Seed harvest: medium difficulty

Seed first harvest: first year

Seed cleaning: difficult

Planting duration: short to medium

Seed insect problem: none noted

Seed shatter: medium

Seed size: medium

Seed harvest date: August, September

Seed comments: Pappus bristles on the seed cause handling problems, aggressive removal reduces germination. Seed ripens indeterminately, multiple harvests are need.

Herbaria: Specimen data and digital resources from The Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria

Key words: upland native perennial forb

Propagation:
4 protocols in the Native Plant Network
Glacier National Park, Montana
Plant Materials Center, Bridger Montana
Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
Plant Materials Center, Pullman Washington

Other Propagation Information:
Germinates best with alternating temperatures of 20/30 ^oC. Germination is slightly higher with alternating light cycles (Maguire & Overland 1959).
No pretreatment required (Link 1993).
Reproduces sexually by seed.

Notes: For landscaping use Gaillardia aristata seeds germinate without a lot of bothersome pretreatment. This species is just way too easy. It grows quickly, often flowers the first year. It will produce flowers into August if it has some moisture. Does seem to be short-lived, but reseeds itself. Voles may eat the crown over winter but only occasionally kill the plant. Sow in late fall or early spring. Common name is blanketflower or blanket flower (Skinner et al 2005).

References:
Atwood, Sanford. 1937. The Last Premeiotic Mitosis and Its Relation to Meiosis in Gaillardia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 23(1):1-5.

Baldwin, B.G., S. Boyd, B.J. Ertter, D.J. Keil, R.W. Patterson, T.J. Rosatti, and D.H. Wilken (eds). 2004. Jepson Online Interchange for California Floristics. University and Jepson Herbaria, University of California, Berkeley, CA. Accessed 9/10/09 online at http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/interchange.html

Cooper, D.C. 1935. Cytological Observations on Certain Compositae. American Journal of Botany 22:843-848.

Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 1993+. Flora of North America North of Mexico. 7+ vols. New York and Oxford. Oxford University Press. Online at http://www.fna.org/FNA/

Hassell, Wendell, W. Rocky Beavers, Steve Ouellette, and Thomas Mitchell. 1996. Seeding Rate Statistics for Native and Introduced Species. US Department of Interior and US Department of Agriculture, NRCS. Denver, CO.

Hitchcock, C. Leo, Arthur Cronquist, Marion Ownbey, and J.W. Thompson. 1969. Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest. University of Washington Press. Seattle, WA. 5 vol.

Link, Ellen (ed.). 1993. Native Plant Propagation Techniques for National Parks Interim Guide. USDA, NRCS, Rose Lake Plant Materials Center. East Lansing, MI.

Maguire, James D., and Alvin Overland. 1959. Laboratory Germination of Seeds of Weedy and Native Plants. Washington State Agricultural Experiment Station Circular 349, Pullman, WA. 15 p.

Sedivec, Kevin K., and William T. Barker. 1998. Selected North Dakota and Minnesota Range Plants. North Dakota State University Department of Animal and Range Sciences Extension Bulletin EB-69. Fargo, North Dakota. Online at http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/ansci/range/eb69-2.htm Accessed 12/10/06.

Skinner, David M., Paul Warnick, Bill French, and Mary Fauci. 2005. Characteristics and Uses of Native Palouse Forbs in Landscaping. USDA NRCS Pullman Plant Materials Center and Palouse Prairie Foundation. Online at http://www.wsu.edu/pmc_nrcs/Docs/Forbs_for_Landscaping.pdf

University of British Columbia. 2003. British Columbia Flora. University of British Columbia Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research. Online at http://www.bcflora.org/ Accessed 1/1/06.

USDA NRCS, Pullman Plant Materials Center. 2005. Seed Weights of Some Palouse Native Species. Pullman Plant Materials Center, Pullman, Washington. Online at http://www.wsu.edu/~pmc_nrcs/Docs/Seed_Weights_Palouse_Native_Species.pdf

USDA NRCS. 2009. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 10 September 2009). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

Links:
Plant Profile from the USDA PLANTS Database
Species description from Flora of North America
Species information from the University of Washington Herbarium