About Gaillardia pinnatifida Torr.
Gaillardia pinnatifida Torr. is a perennial plant that reaches a height of 22 inches, or 56 centimeters. Its leaves are hairy, range in shape from wavy to lobed, and grow up to 3 inches, or 7.6 centimeters, long; leaves extend up the stem to around its halfway point. A single flower head sits atop the stem, holding 7 to 12 yellow ray flowers and numerous densely packed orange-brown to purple disk flowers. The ray flowers are three-lobed, often deeply so. This species shows considerable morphological variation across its distribution range, enough that some authors have split G. pinnatifida into separate varieties or even distinct species. However, these differing taxa intergrade with one another, so both the Flora of North America and the Kew Garden Plant List do not recognize any of these groups as separate taxa. Many populations of this species growing in Arizona have unlobed leaves, which differs from the deeply divided leaves seen in populations further north. Populations growing in Utah have yellow disk flowers instead of brown or purple ones, and also have gland-dots on their leaves. Gaillardia pinnatifida occurs naturally in blackbush scrub, mixed shrub-grasslands, and pinyon–juniper woodland plant communities.
