Black-eyed Susan

These values are location-based: this location's current hardiness is the baseline, and the 2050 value is a projected future climate for this same location.

In plain terms: This location has cold winters. Its winters are projected to keep warming through 2050.

Well-suited today and still thriving in 2050.

Silvery checkerspot (Chlosyne nycteis)

Rudbeckia species are documented larval hosts for the silvery checkerspot butterfly.

Common eastern bumblebee (Bombus impatiens)

Pearl crescent (Phyciodes tharos)

NABA and the Alabama Butterfly Atlas list black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) as an adult nectar source for Phyciodes tharos.

Hover flies (flower flies) (Syrphidae)

Long-horned bees (Melissodes spp.)

American goldfinch (Spinus tristis)

LBJ notes that birds eat the ripe seeds; leaving seedheads standing through fall and winter feeds goldfinches and other small seed-eaters.

LBJ records Indigenous use of a root tea for worms and colds, an external wash for sores, snakebite, and swelling, and root juice for earaches (Foster & Duke). Internal medicinal use is not established and is not recommended.

Native across 24 US states; naturalized in 22 US states.

Worldwide native range.

Naturally belongs in 38 ecoregions - its native range crosses a state or province each one spans (not necessarily this exact habitat).

NC State Extension lists Rudbeckia hirta for USDA hardiness zones 3a-8b.

LBJ Wildflower Center records its habitat as prairie, plains, meadows, pastures, savannas, and woodland edges and openings, on moist to dry well-drained soil; it tolerates juglone, so it can be planted near black walnut.

Can become aggressive where conditions are ideal, since it reseeds freely; it may also bloom longer with some afternoon shade in hot summers.

Native-range provenance: POWO/Kew was returning HTTP 403 when this record was authored, so the wild native range above comes from the Catalogue of Life distribution served through GBIF, which limits the native range to the eastern and central United States and flags the European, Asian, and Caribbean range as introduced. The broader USA/Canada distribution in nativeStates below is the LBJ/USDA occurrence list, which does not separate native from long-naturalized; the two fields therefore differ on purpose. GBIF also carries a much broader NATIVE list for this species sourced from the World Register of Marine Species, which is not a botanical authority for a terrestrial forb and was deliberately not used.