Gaillardia aristata, Pursh

Tutin, T. G., Heywood, V. H., Burges, N. A., Moore, D. M., Valentine, D. H., Walters, S. M. & Webb, D. A., 1976, Flora Europaea. Volume 4. Plantaginaceae to Compositae (and Rubiaceae), Cambridge University Press : 144

1. G. aristata Pursh , Fl. Amer. Sept. 2: 573 (1814).

Erect, hairy perennial 20-70 cm. Leaves 5-15 x 0-5-2-5 cm, linearoblong to lanceolate-ovate, the lower often oblanceolate, entire (often serrate) or pinnatifid. Capitula solitary or few, longpedunculate. Involucral bracts 6-13 x 2-3 mm, herbaceous, narrow, often hairy, patent, deflexed in fruit. Ligules numerous, 1-3- 5 cm, yellow, often with purplish base. Tubular florets purple or brownish-purple. Achenes c. 4 mm, covered by the appressed basal hairs, shorter than the setae on the receptacle. Pappus 2-3 mm (excluding awn), white, membranous, abruptly contracted into an awn. Cultivated for ornament and naturalized in the Açores. [Az.] (North America.)

G. pulchella Foug. , Mém. Acad. Sci. (Paris) 1786: 5 (1788), also from North America, is perhaps becoming naturalized in C. Europe. It is an annual with purple ligules with a yellow apex.