What you and I know as blanketflower or gaillardia was unknown to science when Meriwether Lewis collected a specimen near what is now known as Lewis and Clark Pass in Montana, July 6, 1806. It was later described by Frederick Pursh and named Gaillardia aristata after French botanist Gaillard de Marentonneau. Blanketflower or gaillardia are the most commonly used names for this plant today, but it is also known as brown-eyed Susan because the flowers are said to resemble those of black-eyed Susan