Black-Eyed Susan Pictures For The Whole Family
One look at these black-eyed susan pictures will tell you where they got their name. These flowers look like they have a large black eye in the middle of their bright yellow petals. They are also known as Yellow Daisy, Ox-eyed Daisy, and even Golden Jerusalem.
These black-eyed susan pictures were taken in parks, gardens and forest preserves close to where I live. Can you find these flowers where you live? Where did they come from originally? Find out as you explore these black-eyed susan pictures and information about them.
Viewing And Downloading Black-Eyed Susan Images
You can view a larger complementary image by double clicking the link below each thumbnail. This will open a smaller window right on this page. If the link appears not to work, try holding down the control key as you press enter.
Feel free to download them and use them for sharing with friends and family. If you have a website and want to use them there all I ask is that you link back to Nature And Flower Pictures. Simply copy the code at the bottom of this page into your web site.
Black Eyed Susan Pictures Gallery
These flowers are known by several names such as:
- Black-eyed Susan;
- Yellow or Ox-eye Daisy;
- Nigger-head;
- Golden Jerusalem;
- Purple Cone-flower
Their botanical name is Rudbeckia hirta. I wonder where in the world these scientific names come from, don't you?
Notice the flower-heads in these black-eyed susan pictures have 10 to 20 orange-yellow neutral rays around a conical, dark purplish-brown disk of florets containing both stamens and pistil. Stamens are where the pollen comes from and the pistil is where the seeds are found.
If you click on the link below the smaller image you can see this more clearly. This is also how you want to get your copy of that favorite daisy image.
The stems of black-eyed susun are normally 1 to 3 feet tall, hairy, and rough. They are usually unbranched, which means each stem holds a single flower.
Notice the shape of the leaves. They are oblong like little spears with a few notches here and there. The wildflowr version of black-eyed susan is not quite as thick as the more domesticated ones.
These beautiful flowers prefer open sunny places and dry fields. They have a flowering season from May to September sometimes as late as even October. They can be found as far north as Canada and I have seen them as far south as Virginia. They grow as far south as Mexico.
Black-Eyed Susan Pictures at Different Angles
So very many of the wildflowers or "weeds" as many prefer calling them came to the Eastern shores of America from Europe, and marched farther and farther west year by year. So it is only fair that black-eyed Susan, a native of Western clover fields, should travel toward the Atlantic in bundles of hay whenever she gets the chance.
This quote from an old wildfower book tells the story of the black-eyed susan with elligance, I think.
- "Do these gorgeous heads know that all our showy rudbeckias--some with orange red at the base of their ray florets--have become prime favorites of late years in European gardens, so offering them still another chance to overrun the Old World, to which so much American hay is shipped?"
So it would seem these georgous beauties made their way east traveling in hay bales. Can you imagine the disgruntled farmers and at the same time the shining eyes of the women settlers as they saw the beauty in these flowers?
Even so it would seem it took growing black-eyed susans in European gardens to bring to American's attention the benefit these flowers carry in their beauty. Did you know that at one time there were actually laws against weeds? Some states actually tried to pass laws to stop the growing of these "weeds". Not just the black-eyed susan, I'm sure but any weed that might interfere with the real business of farming.
If you have ever had a flower vase that included black-eyed susan flowers on your table, you will soon discover why they are a favorite of:
- Bees,
- wasps,
- flies,
- butterflies,
- and beetles.
Though it may take long slender tongues of these insects to reach, there is an abundance of pollen available to all. One look around the base of your favorite black-eyed susan flowers will reveal this abundance of pollen. Even so, her beauty far outways the need to dust a little more often, that is unless you are prone to allergies. In that case a vase of carnations may be more to your liking.
You can be certain, the black-eyed susan flower is here to stay. In 1918, Maryland adopted the black-eyed susan as itÂ’s state flower. Now how is that for a show of appreciation?
Black-Eyed Susan Pictures of The Wild Flower Kind
Folk Medicine of Black-Eyed Susan Flower
The roots of black-eyed susan (rudbeckia hirta) have been used in a warm infusion to wash on sores and snake bites. They are also used to make medicinal drinks for treating colds and worms in children. And ooze from the roots have been used as drops for earaches.
Black-Eyed Susan Are Members of the Composite Family
The black-eyed susan is a flowering plant in the composite family. Composite (pronounced kuhm PAHZ iht), is the common name for a large family of flowering plants. The scientific name for this family is Asteraceae or Compositae.
The family consists of more than 20,000 species of herbs and shrubs. These plants are found throughout the world and in most climates and habitats. The flowers consist of several to many florets arrange on a head. Take a close look at any of these black-eyed susan pictures and notice the tiny flowers clusted around the brown center. This is a common trait of composite flowers.
I was surprised at the many flowers that make up this family. Some of them you would never think of as falling into the daisy family of flowers. Ageratums, aricas, asters, black-eyed susans, blazing stars, bonesets, calendulas, chicories, chrysanthemums, compass plants, coneflowers, cosmos, dahlias, daisies, dandelions, fleabanes, gailardias, goldenrods, marigolds, sunflowers, thistles, tickseeds, zinnias are all members of the composite family. Many of these flowers can be found here on Nature And Flower Pictures.
In plants of the composite family, each flower head is a composite of many small flowers surrounded by a cuplike cluster of modified leaves called bracts. From a distance, the flower head resembles a single large flower. A daisy, for example, has an outer ring of long, white ray flowers that look like individual petals, and a yellow center of many tightly packed, tube-shaped disk flowers. A thistle head has only disk flowers, and all the flowers of a dandelion head are ray-like.
Even though the black-eyed susan is considered a wild
plant, many people grow them in their gardens. The last picture in this set of black-eyed susan pictures is from my mother's garden. Notice how the leaves, or rays are deep orange near the center. This is just one of the deeper colors mentioned above of this flower.
I have taken some wonderful black eyed susan pictures around lakes and rivers locally. They really look wonderful with the water in the background. How would you like to have a fish pond in your yard to show off your beautiful garden? This is the place to learn how. Fantastic Fish Ponds. Have the fish pond you've always dreamed of - guaranteed!
Return to Daisy Pictures from Black-Eyed Susan Pictures
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