Onion Blanketflower

See comments under 1. Gaillardia pinnatifida.

Perennials or subshrubs, 30–45+ cm. Leaves cauline; petiolar bases essentially none; blades narrowly spatulate or linear, 2–6 cm × 3–5(–8+) mm, margins entire, faces sparsely and minutely hispidulous or glabrate. Peduncles 2–5+ cm. Phyllaries 20–26, lanceolate- to narrowly triangular-attenuate, 6–10 mm, ± sericeous to villous, not ciliate with jointed hairs. Receptacular setae 0.5–2.5 mm. Ray florets 8; corollas yellow, 13–20 mm. Disc florets 50–80+; corollas proximally yellow, distally purplish, tubes 1–1.5 mm, throats campanulate, 4–4.5 mm, lobes ovate-deltate, 0.8 mm, jointed hairs mostly 0.3+ mm. Cypselae obpyramidal, 2.5–3 mm, hairs 2.5–3 mm, inserted at bases and on angles and faces; pappi of 10 lanceolate, aristate scales 6–9 mm (scarious bases 4–5 × 0.8–1.5 mm). 2n = 68, ca. 102.

Gaillardia multiceps var. microcephala B. L. Turner

Gaillardia multiceps Greene, Bull. Torrey Club 24: 512. 1897
A caulescent perennial, with a thick woody caudex; stems several, strict, 2-3 dm. high,, finely puberulent, branched; leaves numerous, petioled, alternate; petioles less than 1 cm. long; blades thick, puberulent, conspicuously punctate, 2-4 cm. long, the lower oblanceolate, the upper almost linear, all entire; peduncles 2-5 cm. long; involucral bracts ovate-lanceolate, caudate-acuminate, hirsute, chartaceous at the base, with reflexed tips; fimbrillae of the receptacle setaceous, shorter than the achenes; ray-flowers neutral; ligules yellow, 8-10 mm. long; disk 15-18 mm. broad; corollas yellow with purplish limb, 5-6 mm. long; tube very short; throat trumpet-shaped; lobes triangular, glandular-hirsute; achenes densely villoushirsute; squamellae narrowly lanceolate, including the awn 6 mm. long.
Type locality: South of Woodruff, Arizona. Distribution: Arizona.

Gaillardia multiceps, the onion blanketflower, is a North American species of flowering plant in the sunflower family. It is native to the southwestern United States (Arizona, New Mexico, western Texas).

Gaillardia multiceps grows in gypseous soils, including sand dunes. It is an perennial herb or subshrub up to 45 cm (18 in) tall, with leaves on the stem rather than clustered around the base. Each flower head is on its own flower stalk up to 55 cm (22 in) long. Each head has 8 red ray flowers surrounding 80-100 disc flowers, yellow with purple tips.