RUDBECKIA

Rudbeckia is a plant genus in the Asteraceae family.The species are commonly called coneflowers and black-eyed-susans; all are native to North America and many species are cultivated in gardens for their showy yellow or gold flower heads. The species are herbaceous, mostly perennial plants (some annual or biennial) growing to 0.5–3 m tall, with simple or branched stems.

The leaves are spirally arranged, entire to deeply lobed, 5–25 cm long. The flowers are produced in daisy-like inflorescences, with yellow or orange florets arranged in a prominent, cone-shaped head; "cone-shaped" because the ray florets tend to point out and down (are decumbent) as the flower head opens.

A large number of species have been proposed within Rudbeckia, but most are now regarded as synonyms of a limited group. Some currently accepted species have several accepted varieties. Some of them (for example the Black-eyed Susan, R. hirta), are popular garden flowers distinguished for their long flowering times. There are many cultivars of these species.

Rudbeckia species are eaten by the caterpillars of some Lepidoptera species including Cabbage Moth and Dot Moth. The name of the genus was given by Carolus Linnaeus in honour of his teacher at Uppsala University, Professor Olof Rudbeck the Younger (1660-1740), and his father Professor Olof Rudbeck the Elder (1630-1702), both of whom were botanists. Rudbeckia is one of at least four coneflower genera within the flowering plant family Asteraceae; the others are Echinacea, Dracopis and Ratibida.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.