Home » Plants » Rudbeckia triloba

Brown-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia triloba L.)

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Range
Description
Life Cycle
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↑Range - Expand

Legend	Color
Native
Native or Not Present
Introduced or Not Present
Native or Expanded
Expanded or Not Present

This tentative map is based on our own research. It may have limited data on Canada and/or Mexico, and there is some subjectivity in our assignment of plants as introduced vs. expanded. Read more in this blog post.

↑Description & Identification

Biennial or short-lived perennial with an upright, bushy habit. Leaves are irregularly lobed; although the scientific name suggests "three-lobed", and many leaves do have three lobes, it is common for some leaves to be entire (unlobed) and some have five or more lobes. Stems are often reddish, especially as they mature.

↑Life Cycle

An opportunistic biennial to short-lived perennial, with some flexibility as to its life cycle.

First-year plants grow only as a basal rosette. Unlike R. hirta, first-year plants rarely to never bloom. Second-year plants bolt in mid-to-late spring, forming a bushy habit. Begins blooming mid-summer, and continues blooming for months.

Plants often, but not always, die after setting seed.

First-year plants can survive mowing, but this plant cannot reproduce in regularly-mowed areas.