SWEET BLACK-EYED SUSAN

Rudbeckia subtomentosa

Aster family (Asteraceae)

Description: Plants up to 6' tall, with at least some fine hairiness on the upper stems, although usually smooth below. The leaves are alternate and softly hairy, but not bristly, with the basal leaves on long stalks and the stem leaves on short stalks or stalkless. Some of the stem leaves are deeply divided into 3 lobes. There are usually several individually stalked flower heads at the top of the plant, with each head about 21/2-3" wide and composed of 6-20 yellow petal-like ray flowers surrounding a bluntly conical central disk that is as tall or taller as it is wide.

Summer

Habitat/Range: Locally frequent in mesic prairies, low swales in upland prairies, and in thickets along prairie streams; found from Indiana through eastern Nebraska and southward.

Comments: This plant is also called Sweet Coneflower.