Sunshine Rudbeckia

Rudbeckia hirta, commonly called black-eyed Susan, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to the Eastern and Central United... more

by Bruce Bley

Title

Sunshine Rudbeckia

Artist

Bruce Bley

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

Rudbeckia hirta, commonly called black-eyed Susan, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to the Eastern and Central United States. It is one of a number of plants with the common name black-eyed Susan. Other common names for this plant include: brown-eyed Susan, brown Betty, gloriosa daisy, golden Jerusalem, Poorland daisy, yellow daisy, and yellow ox-eye daisy.
The plant also is a traditional Native American medicinal herb in several tribal nations; believed in those cultures to be a remedy, among other things, for colds, flu, infection, swelling and for snake bite (although not all parts of the plant are edible)
It is an upright annual (sometimes biennial or perennial) growing 30-100 cm (12-39 in) tall by 30-45 cm (12-18 in) wide. It has alternate, mostly basal leaves 10-18 cm long, covered by coarse hair, with stout branching stems and daisy-like, composite flowers appearing in late summer and early autumn. In the species, the flowers are up to 10 cm (4 in) in diameter, with yellow ray-florets circling conspicuous brown or black, dome-shaped disc-florets. However, extensive breeding has produced a range of sizes and colors, including oranges, reds and browns.

Uploaded

July 18th, 2015