Black-Eyed Susan

Black-Eyed Susan

Common name: Black-eyed Susan, orange coneflower

Scientific name: Rudbeckia fulgida

Family: Aster, Daisy, or Composite; Asteraceae

Bloom period: May to as late as first frost.

Where to see it: Black-eyed Susans are scattered throughout all three butterfly gardens.

What to look for: Black-eyed Susans are one of the most recognizable plants, with bright golden yellow blooms on plants that reach more than three feet high. Like its purple coneflower cousin, its blooms are composites of ray (yellow) and disc (in the black “eye”) flowers.

Benefit to pollinators: Bees, beneficial wasps (i.e., those that prey on insect pests), syrphid flies, and occasionally butterflies are drawn to Black-eyed Susans’ pollen and nectar. The seeds in the cones feed birds in the fall.

More information: Various Native American tribes used this plant’s immunostimulatory properties to relieve symptoms of the common cold. They also used the plant to treat dropsy, worms, snakebites, and earaches. Early European Americans used Rudbeckia as a diuretic and as a stimulant.