Perennials (sometimes flowering first year, sometimes rhizomatous), (5-)15-35+ cm. Leaves basal and cauline, mostly re-stricted to proximal ¹/3-¹/2; petiolar bases 0-5+ cm; blades mostly oblanceolate to spatulate, 3-6(-12) cm × 3-18(-30) mm, margins mostly pinnatifid, distal sometimes toothed or entire (rarely all linear, entire), faces closely strigillose to shaggily villous. Peduncles (4-)8-25+ cm. Phyllaries 20-30, ovate- to lanceolate-attenuate, 7-12+ mm, hispidulous to villous (hairs often jointed). Receptacular setae usually 1-3 mm, rarely wanting. Ray florets 0 or 5-14; corollas usually uniformly yellow, sometimes proximally and/or abaxially reddish, 10-25+ mm. Disc florets (30-)60-100+; corollas usually proximally ochroleucous or yellow and distally purplish, rarely wholly yellow, tubes 0.8-1 mm, throats campanulate to plumply urceolate, 3-4.5 mm, lobes broadly deltate to deltate-ovate, 0.5-1 mm, jointed hairs 0.3+ mm. Cypselae obpyramidal, 1-3 mm, hairs 1-2 mm, inserted at bases and on angles and faces; pappi of 8-11 lanceolate, aristate scales 3-7 mm (scarious bases 1.5-4 × 0.5-1.5 mm). 2n = 34. Flowering Mar-Oct, mostly May-Jul. Clays or sandy soils, often disturbed places, in grasslands, desert scrub-lands, or pinyon woodlands; 900-2000 m; Ariz., Colo., Nev., N.Mex., Okla., Tex., Utah; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Sonora). Some plants, especially from Arizona, included here in Gaillardia pinnatifida, have mostly narrow, undivided leaf blades (mostly 3-8+ mm wide, villous to sparsely strigillose; var. linearis) and intergrade with similar plants called G. multiceps, which have sparsely and minutely hispidulous or glabrate leaf blades.

Plants from Utah with yellow disc corollas and densely gland-dotted leaves, included here in Gaillardia pinnatifida, have been recognized as G. flava.

Plant: Perennial forb 20-30 cm Leaves: leaves alternate, entire-toothed-pinnatifid Flowers: flower heads solitary, showy, the ray flowers yellow or maroon with yellow tips; palea of the pappus narrowed into an awn the length of the disk corolla.