Black-eyed Susan
Rough-haired stems and golden rays around a raised brown center make Maryland’s state flower a familiar open-ground wildflower.
Artwork inspired by Joyce J. Scott
Black-eyed Susan brightens fields, road edges, and open plantings with a dark raised center surrounded by yellow ray florets. What looks like one flower is actually a head of many small florets: the central disk and surrounding rays do different jobs in attracting and rewarding pollinators. Hairy stems and leaves help distinguish Rudbeckia hirta from some smoother garden look-alikes.
The state flower is widely native east of the Rockies, not uniquely Maryland’s. It thrives where sunlight reaches disturbed or managed open ground and can be short-lived even while a patch returns through seed. Watch how the heads change from fresh rays to seed-rich disks; birds later use those seeds. A planted display may contain cultivated varieties, so a roadside identification deserves more than color alone.
- Family
- Sunflower family
- Habitat
- Sunny open ground
- State role
- Flower since 1918
Quick guide
- Study the center
- Look for a raised dark disk of tiny florets.
- Check texture
- Hairy stem and leaf surfaces support the identification.
Look beyond the yellow rays
- Read the head
- The disk contains many individual florets, not one dark eye.
- Inspect leaves
- Texture and arrangement matter where other daisies grow.
- Watch visitors
- Pollinators and seed-eating birds use different stages.
- Leave the patch
- Observe from the path and do not collect wild blooms.
Good to know
“State flower” expresses Maryland’s adopted symbol, not exclusivity. The wild species ranges across many other states and is often planted beyond its native area.
Notice these
- Golden rays
- Domed dark disk
- Rough foliage