Wildflowers of Ainsworth: Black-eyed Susan

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Jack Sanders tells us that this flower's "common and scientific names are among the most unusual and sentimental."

The common name, Black-eyed Susan, comes from a ballad written by John Gay around 1720 (lyrics and tune here).

The scientific name, Rudbeckia hirta, commemorates two Swedish botanists, Olaus Rudbeck, Sr. and Jr. They were professors of botany at the University of Upsala when Carl von Linne went there in the 1720s to study medicine, and Olaus Jr. became Carl's mentor and friend. Carl is better known to us now as Linnaeus, who developed the binomial system of naming all life forms by genus and species, and who immortalized the Rudbeck name as a genus of flowers.

Hirta is Latin for "hairy." That description does not apply to the Rudbecks, but to the stalk and leaves of the Black-eyed Susan.