Brown-eyed Susan

Brown-eyed Susan is a coarse, weedy, somewhat hairy, clump-forming, densely-branched biennial or short-lived perennial that is native from New England to Minnesota south to Georgia and Oklahoma. It typically occurs in wet woods along streams, alluvial thickets, rocky slopes at the base of bluffs and along roadsides. This is a densely-branched plant that typically grows to 2-3’ (less frequently to 5’) tall. Daisy-like flowers (to 1 1/2” diameter) featuring 6-12 yellow rays and brown-purple center disks bloom profusely from summer to fall. Leaves are thin and rough-textured on both sides. Some of the leaves are 3-lobed (less frequently 5- or 7-lobed). Lower leaves are ovate to ovate-cordate with long petioles, and upper leaves are less rounded and sessile. Other common names for this plant include thin-leaved coneflower (for thin leaves) and three-lobed coneflower (for three-lobed leaves and species name). This plant is in part distinguished from black-eyed Susan (R. hirta) by having a more profuse bloom of smaller flowers that usually have fewer rays per flowerhead.