Arizona Blanketflower

Annuals, 5–40 cm. Leaves mostly basal, mostly restricted to proximal ¹/5(–¹/3+); petiolar bases 0–2+ cm; blades oblanceolate, obovate, or spatulate, 3–6(–9) cm × 5–25 mm, mostly raggedly pinnately lobed, sometimes entire, sparsely to densely villous with jointed hairs. Peduncles 5–35 cm. Phyllaries 14–20, lanceolate to lance-attenuate, 6–12+ mm, ciliate with jointed hairs. Receptacular setae 0 or 0.3–0.8 mm. Ray florets 10–13; corollas yellow to orange, 17–22 mm. Disc florets 40–100+; corollas yellow, tubes 0.6–0.8 mm, throats campanulate, 2.8–3 mm, lobes deltate, 0.5–0.7 mm, jointed hairs to 0.3 mm. Cypselae obpyramidal, 2 mm, hairs 2 mm, inserted at bases and on angles and faces; pappi of 8–10 obovate or ovate to lanceolate, aristate or muticous scales 2–5 mm (if aristate, scarious bases 2–3.5 × 1.3–1.6 mm). 2n = 34.

Gaillardia arizonica var. pringlei (Rydberg) S. F. Blake

Gaillardia pringlei Rydberg, sp. nov
A scapose or subscapose annual; leaves clustered at the base, 4-6 cm. long, usually pinnately lobed or sometimes merely toothed, with ovate lobes or teeth, villous with flat hairs; scape 1-2 dm. high, short-pubescent; involucral bracts 8 mm. long, linear-lanceolate, villous with long flat hairs; fimbrillae of the receptacle subulate, about as long as the achenes; rayflowers neutral; ligules yellow, 10-15 mm. long, about 5 mm. wide, deeply 3-lobed; disk yellow, 15-18 mm. broad, hemispheric; corollas 4-5 mm. long; tube glabrous, less than 1 mm. long; throat puberulent; lobes triangular, glandular-hispid; achenes 4 mm. long, densely hirsute; squamellae 8-10, obovate, rounded or slightly refuse at the apex; midrib prominent and excurrent into a short awn.
Type collected on mesa near Tucson, Arizona, in April, 1S84, C. G. Pringle (herb. Columbia Univ.).
Distribution: Arizona and southern Utah.

Gaillardia arizonica A. Gray, Syn. Fl. N. Am. I 2 : 353. 1884
Gaillardia peduncidala A. Nelson, Bot. Gaz. 47: 432. 1909.
A subscapose annual; stems several, 1-2 dm. high, leafy mostly at the base, hirsute-strigose; leaves mostly basal, 4-6 cm. long, pinnately lobed with rounded to oblong crenate divisions, somewhat villous-hirsute; peduncles 5-15 cm. long; involucral bracts linear-lanceolate, acute, villous with flat hairs, 7-8 mm. long; fimbrillae of the receptacle subulate; ray-flowers neutral; ligules yellow, 10-12 mm. long, 4-5 mm. wide, deeply 3-lobed; disk yellow, 15-18 mm. broad, hemispheric; corollas 5 mm. long; tube less than 1 mm. long, glabrous; throat cylindro-funnelform, slightly puberulent; lobes triangular, glandular-puberulent;. achenes 3-4 mm. long, densely hirsute; squamellae 8-10, obovate, 2.5 mm. long, rounded or retuse at the apex, without distinct midrib and awn.
Type locality: Given as "high plains of south Utah and Arizona," but the type was collected at Beaver Dam, Arizona.
Distribution: Arizona, southern Utah, and Nevada."

Gaillardia arizonica, the Arizonia blanketflower, is a species of flowering plant in the sunflower family. It is native to northwestern Mexico (Sonora) and the southwestern United States (Arizona, southern Nevada, southern Utah).

Gaillardia arizonica grows in sandy washes and alluvial deposits in desert regions. It is an annual herb, growing up to 40 cm (16 in) tall, and with leaves mostly crowding around its base. Each flower head is on its own flower stalk up to 35 cm (14 in) long. Each head has 10–16 yellow or orange ray flowers surrounding 40–100 yellow disc flowers.