Hopi blanketflower facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Hopi blanketflower |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Gaillardia
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| Species: |
pinnatifida
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The Hopi blanketflower (Gaillardia pinnatifida) is a beautiful plant. It is also called the red dome blanketflower. This plant is a perennial, which means it lives for more than two years. It belongs to the sunflower family, called Asteraceae. You can find it growing in northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. It grows from Kansas down to Texas and west to Nevada.
What Does the Hopi Blanketflower Look Like?
The Hopi blanketflower can grow up to about 56 centimeters (22 inches) tall. Its stems have hairy leaves that can be wavy or deeply cut. These leaves can be up to 7.6 centimeters (3 inches) long. They grow about halfway up the plant's stem.
Each plant has a single flower head at the top. This flower head has 7 to 12 yellow ray flowers. These are like the petals you see on a sunflower. The ray flowers often have three tips, which can be so deep they look like separate lobes.
In the center of the flower head are many tightly packed disk flowers. These are usually orange-brown to purple. However, some plants in Utah have yellow disk flowers instead.
This plant can look quite different depending on where it grows. For example, many Hopi blanketflowers in Arizona have smooth, undivided leaves. This is different from the deeply cut leaves found further east.
Where Does the Hopi Blanketflower Grow?
You can find the Hopi blanketflower in several types of natural areas. It often grows in places with shrubs like blackbrush plants. It also thrives in mixed areas where shrubs and grasslands grow together.
Another common habitat for this plant is pinyon juniper woodlands. These are forests with pinyon pine and juniper trees.
