Firewheel is native to central North America. It is a member of the aster family.
The genus Gaillardia is named for an 18th-century French patron of botany,
M. Gaillard de Charentonneau.
Identification: Plants reach 2′ (60 cm).
The stem is hairy, and multiply branched.
Most of the leaves are near the base, 1½-3″ (4-8 cm) long, with edges that are smooth
or sometimes coarsely toothed. Flowers are the distinctive characteristic of firewheels—each
petal is red or red-violet at the base, tipped with yellow, with a brownish red central disk, dividing into
three lobes
at the end. Sometimes the petals are solid orange or yellow.