Gaillardia aristata - Blanket Flower (Asteraceae)

Blanket Flower, one of the lovely daisies
in the Rocky Mountains

Yellow daisies are generally referred to as sunflowers in North America, and they certainly have a dazzling array of them.

Blanket Flower is most easily separated from the others by its very red 'eye'. It grows throughout the western mountains and we saw many of them in Rocky Mountain National Park.

It grows very readily from seed and is a popular plant in gardens as well as being common in the wild.

It grows on roadsides, on slopes, in meadows, forests and hillsides and can be found quite high up in the mountains. It flowers from June to August.

The specimens on this page were photographed in Rocky Mountain National Park in August.