Black-Eyed Susan

Black-Eyed Susan

Other common names:

●      Brown Betty

●      Brown Daisy

●      Brown-Eyed Susan

●      Coneflower

●      Donkey bead

●      English Bull’s Eye

●      Poor-land Daisy

●      Yellow Daisy

●      Yellow Jerusalem

●      Yellow Ox-Eye Daisy

●      Deer Eye (Cherokee)

Rudbeckia: named in honor of two Rudbecks, father and son botanists, who proceeded Linnaeus at the University in Upsala, Sweden

Serotina: from Latin serum, meaning “late”

Daisy Family: Asteraceae (compositae)

Found throughout the tallgrass prairie and elsewhere under a wide variety of environments but generally preferring drier areas. Blooms from June to September.

This short-lived perennial grows erect to 3 feet tall. Its stem, usually without branches below the flower head, is rough and hairy.

            Basal leaves up to 5 inches long and 1 inch across are often broadest toward their tips. Along the stem, leaves are alternate, smaller, and no petiole. Leaves tend to be thick, rough and hairy; they may be finely toothed on the margin.

The bright orange-yellow flowers, one or a few per stem, have 10-20 ray petals that are perhaps an inch long. These petals are arranged around a dome-shaped center disk. This dark individual stalks that may be long or short. The seed is a tiny, four-angled achene.

Early settlers used black-eyed Susan as a stimulant and a diuretic. Leaves were dried and steeped to brew a tea considered by these settlers to be a kidney stimulant. A drink made by steeping the leaves of another species, R. hirta, was also used as a kidney stimulant.

            The Forest Potawatomi prepared a root tea of this or other species for curing colds. A related species, R. lacinita, was used as a diuretic and a tonic. The disk flowers were boiled with rushes to give them a yellow color.

            Other species of the genys have been widely used as garden ornamentals, especially in Europe. Golden glow is a Rudbeckia that was widely planted in flower gardens in the past.

            Because black-eyed Susan is sometimes found growing in hayfields and pastures, some people class it as a weed. It is easily controlled, however, and it adds a touch of beauty to prairie roadsides or meadows.

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