56 Rudbeckia laciniata.
P la n t from four to ten feet high. Root perennial. Stem erect,
simple below, branched above, smooth and glabrous. Radicle leaves
sub-pinnate, laciniate; leaflets three-lobed; lobes oval-lanceolate,
acuminate, laciniate; those of the stem three-parted; the divisions
acuminate; the upper leaves small, ovate, acute ; edges of all scabrous.
Flowers large; disk spheroid at first, afterwards conical;
loose-flowered; rays, generally ten in number, lanceolate, obtuse,
deeply notched or emarginated; of a brilliant yellow colour, and during
the first period of florescence horizontal, afterwards drooping.
Grows from Canada to the southern states, inhabiting the edges of
swamps and ditches and watery thickets, flowering from August until
October.
This species of Rudbeckia is one of the commonest autumnal
plants in the middle states of the union. It is likewise frequent in
those as far north and east as Connecticut. Its height renders it
very ornamental; and makes it also very conspicuous among the
great number of showy plants which at this season decorate the
grounds. The species it most nearly resembles, is the pinnata and di-
gitata: but from these it is easily discriminated by attending to the
botanical characters given in the books. With the R. pinnata it has,
by some, been thought to be easily confounded. Its very smooth
stem and difference of the upper leaves, however, distinguish it sufficiently
from that species.
3
Rudbeckia laciniata. 57
R. laciniata is a hardy perennial, becoming greatly improved by
cultivation. It is hence a very proper native to introduce into the
borders of our gardens. A single root transplanted in the spring or
early summer, will by the succeeding year be so much multiplied, as
to form a large and showy cluster. Cultivation, besides rendering
the flowers larger and more numerous, gives a tendency to ramification
of the stems from the root, thus adding to the strength and
beauty of the plant as a border ornament of gardens. In Pennsylvania,
this is the only very common species of Rudbeckia, and here
it is every where to be met with in the situations already specified
as its habitat. In the vicinity of Philadelphia it is most common on
the borders of the Schuylkill and Delaware, along the course of
these rivers on either side, growing in company with different species
of Helianthus, and other late-flowering perennials.
Fig. 1. The upper portion of a flowering specimen of the plant, shewing
the trilobed and ovate leaves.
3. A radicle pinnate leaf.
3. A neutral floret.
4. A perfect floret of the disk.
(All the size of nature.)