Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

BROWN-EYED SUSAN

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Rudbeckia triloba L. var. triloba

Johnson County, Kansas

Perennial (short-lived)

Height: 20-60 inches

Family: Asteraceae - Sunflower Family

Flowering Period: July, August, September,October

Stems:

Erect, branched, stiff-hairy to nearly glabrous.

Leaves:

Alternate, simple when young, often becoming 3-lobed; margins toothed; tips pointed to tapering pointed; surfaces stiff-hairy; lower blades broadly ovate, seldom more than 2 inches long, some 3-lobed or 3-parted, long-stalked; middle and upper leaves smaller, narrowly ovate to elliptic, often undivided, short-stalked to nearly sessile.

Inflorescences:

Solitary heads terminating branches, forming panicle-like inflorescence.

Flowers:

Bracts narrow, nearly equal, green, spreading or reflexed; ray florets 6-12, 1/3 to 1.2 inch long, yellow to yellow-orange, disk 2/5 to 3/5 inch across, hemispheric to egg-shaped; disk florets 150-300, dark purple.

Fruits:

Achene, 4-angled, glabrous, tipped with minute crown, enclosing small seed.

Habitat:

Low wooded areas, roadsides, stream banks; moist, often shaded sites.

Distribution:

East 1/4 of Kansas.

Brown-eyed susan leaf