Indian Blanket - Gaillardia pulchella
San Lorenzo, New Mexico, USA
July 2015
Photograph above and eight below
In late July 2015, the fields in San Lorenzo were covered with Gaillardia pulchella, Indian Blanket (a.k.a. Firewheel, Indian Blanketflower, and Sundance). This species is found across the southern tier of the United States and northern Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Sonora, Tamaulipas). The subspecies found in our area is the nominate form, there are two other subspecies.
The indigenous peoples of the United States had limited uses for this species.
This species was first described by Auguste Denis Fougeroux de Bondaroy in 1788 (in botanical surveys his name is typically abbreviated as “Foug”).
