Common Name: Blanket Flower

General Information

Gaillardia pinnatifida is a perennial plant with a rootstock that is sometimes rhizomatous; it produces a clump of stems around 15 - 35cm or more tall[].
The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a food and medicine. It is often grown as an ornamental.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Western and southern N. America - Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona,New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and northern Mexico.

Habitat

Clays or sandy soils, often disturbed places, in grasslands, desert scrub-lands, or pinyon woodlands; at elevations from 900 - 2,000 metres[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Habit	Perennial
Height	0.40 m
Pollinators	Insects
Cultivation Status	Ornamental, Wild

Cultivation Details

Gaillardia pinnatifida is not a very cold-hardy plant, tolerating short periods when temperatures fall to between -5 and -10°c[].
Requires a position in full sun, succeeding in any moderately fertile well-drained soil[]. Performs well in poor soils and copes well with hot dry conditions[].
When growing plants near the limits of their cold-tolerance, especially in areas experiencing heavy snows, some winter protection is recommended. Covering the plants with brush wood should be enough[].
Plants are so prolific and long blooming that they often exhaust themselves and are then short-lived[]. They can flower in their first year from seed[].
Members of this genus are rarely if ever troubled by browsing deer[].

Edible Uses

The dried seeds can be ground into a powder then kneaded into seed butter and spread on bread[, ].

Medicinal

The plant is used as a diuretic, taken to give relief from painful urination[, ].

An infusion of the leaves is taken internally, and a poultice applied externally, in the treatment of gout[].

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed - sow spring in a greenhouse. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out in the summer.
Division, with care[].
Root cuttings in the winter[].