#blanketflower

"Indian Blanket" aka Firewheel (Gaillardia pulchella). Family Asteraceae, order Asterales.

It surprised me that these were already blooming, since ours up in Oklahoma don't start until mid to late May, but I suppose being along the coast, it is warmer year round, and gets warmer earlier in the year than we do in Oklahoma.

Flowers in the aster family have one of the most recognizable shapes in botany – a circle with a series of petals surrounding it. If you were asked to draw a flower, there is a good chance your drawing would look something like a sunflower, a daisy, a cosmos, or an aster. It’s one of the most basic flower shapes, and yet it isn’t a single flower; it’s a pseudanthium – a false flower. This is…

From: Maund, B. (Benjamin), 1790-1863. The botanic garden. London : George Bell and Sons, York Street, Covent Garden, 1878