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Summertime yellows, I see
them everywhere here in Florida! Fragments of yellow
blossoms flash against the green landscape like tiny bits of sunlight. Tickseed, beach sunflower, cassia, and
black-eyed Susans are all blooming now.
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) differs from many of
our yellow composite wildflowers by the shape of the fertile array of disk
flowers (the brown center); it has a distinctive cone shape that is similar to
Echinacea or purple coneflower. In fact,
another common name for black-eyed Susan is yellow coneflower.
Wikipedia reports that
the roots have been used like those of Echinacea. Black-eyed Susan contains anthocyanin, an
antioxidant found in many purple, blue, and red fruits such as blueberries,
raspberries, and cranberries, as well as the stems, leaves, and flower petals
of some plants. Historically, different
parts of the wildflower were used by Native Americans for various
ailments. The Cherokee used the roots
for snakebite, worms, and earaches.1
Seminoles used the coneflowers for headaches and fevers. 2
Black-eyed Susan grows as a
wildflower throughout most of the United States, but is also a popular
cultivated garden flower. It’s a
biennial plant, with a two year life span, but sometimes grows as a short-lived
perennial. Forming a basal rosette of
leaves the first year, plants send up stems and bloom the second year. In Florida, I usually see them growing along
the edges of grassy areas near pine flatwoods.
Black-eyed Susan blooms attract bees, butterflies, and other insects
forging for nectar and pollen, and birds for the ripe seedheads.
The leaves and stems are scabrous,
an interesting-sounding word that always bring to my mind the term “frabjous” from The Jabberwocky. Scabrous actually has a more ordinary
meaning: rough, or having a rough surface, an apt description of the coarse bristly
hairs covering those parts. The species
name refers to these hairs as well; hirtus
is from the Latin for “hairy.” The genus
name of Rudbeckia was bestowed by
Linnaeus to honor Olaus Rudbeck, one of his botany professors.
Reading and researching black-eyed
Susan online brought up some other fascinating tidbits. Sending a black-eyed Susan bouquet to a loved
one in Victorian times meant “encouragement.”
I also came across a charming andromantic legend about black-eyed Susan and sweet William, memorialized in a
poem by English author John Gay. I grew
up knowing sweet William as a type of wild phlox, with five petals and light
blue-to-lavender in color. It’s more
probable that the name sweet William actually refers to a type of Dianthus, which is native to Europe.
I drew this as part of The
Sketchbook Project in the small sketchbook provided. If you’re not familiar with the project, you
can read about it here. So far, my booklet seems to be turning into a
collection of flowers found in Florida – but we’ll wait to see what else might
appear on its pages! So far, I think
this one has to be my favorite; after sketching and reading about this common
wildflower, I have a deepened appreciation for its uncommon beauty and history.
**Note: ethnobotany information
is intended for educational purposes only, please consult reliable
sources before attempting to duplicate any medical uses!**
Media:
The Sketchbook Project
sketchbook,
Pitt Artist pen in black,
size XS for the sketch, and S for the text
Kimberly watercolor pencils,
Derwent Inktense,
Niji Aquabrush, small size.
For further reading:
US Department of Agriculture,
with range map http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ruhi2
Floridata, descriptions
and growing information http://www.floridata.com/ref/r/rudb_hir.cfm
