STATE SYMBOLS

Maryland State Flower - Black-Eyed Susan

[photo, Black-Eyed Susans, Anne Arundel County, Maryland] The Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) has been the official Maryland flower since 1918 when it was designated the "Floral Emblem" of Maryland by the General Assembly (Chapter 458, Acts of 1918; Code State Government Article, sec. 13-305).

Black-Eyed Susans, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, 1998. Photo by Elizabeth W. Newell.

In his Species Plantarum (1753), the Swedish naturalist Linnaeus described and named the flower Rudbeckia after Olav Rudbeck and his son, both professors at the University of Uppsala, and hirta from the Latin meaning "rough hairy".

Black-Eyed Susans are perennial daisies or coneflowers, members of the sunflower family (Asteraceae). The flower's yellow rays circle a dark-brown, spherical center measuring 2 to 3 inches in diameter. Commonly found in fields and on roadsides, they bloom between May and August, reaching 2 to 3 feet in height. They are native to the United States, east of the Rocky Mountains.

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