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| The author’s front yard, photograph by the author. |
Author’s Note – It’s Summer and the schools are
closed, but the Plant Identification 101 class is still meeting. For my readers who are Boy Scouts in the
United States, this article can help you with the plant identification
requirements for your First Class rank.
This is the fifth article in the Plant Identification 101 series, for
other plant identification articles go HERE, HERE,
HERE, and HERE
I
have always loved Black-eyed Susans, they are one of my favorite flowers. My yard is covered with them, along with
daisies, echinacea1 and other wildflowers. When I was little, I used to pick Queen
Anne’s Lace and put it into glasses of water, into which a couple of drops of
food coloring had been added, just to watch them turn colors.
An old brownfield, along the Buffalo, NY waterfront, photograph by the
author.
Since
these two types of flowers are commonly found in fields and along roads and
train tracks blooming during the late summer months and into the fall, I
thought we might take a moment to talk about them.
Wild black-eyed susans,
growing in an
old brownfield, along the Buffalo, NY waterfront, photograph by the author.
The range of Rudbeckia hirta, an
excerpt from United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resource
Conservation Service, “Rudbeckia hirta L., blackeyed Susan”.
There
are many plants that share the name, black-eyed susan, and they are all part of
the daisy family, with the genus rudbeckia containing over 23 species: all
of which grow in North America. In
Latin, the word “hirta” means hairy and in this case, it is used to
describe the hairy stems and leaves of this type of black-eyed susan. There are four variants of Rudbeckia hirta,
the Rudbeckia hirta variant floridiana, which is found in
Florida; Rudbeckia hirta variant augustifolia, which is found in
the southeastern United States north to North Carolina and west to Texas;
Rudbeckia hirta variant hirta, which is found in the eastern Unites
States; and Rudbeckia hirta variant pulcherrina, which is the
most widespread and is found throughout the Unites States, except in Nevada and
Arizona. Black-eyed susans are pioneer
plants, which means that they are often the first thing to grow after a fire. They can be found in fields, pastures,
prairies, ditches, along railroad tracks and roads, in open woodlands and in brownfields
and other abandoned areas this time of the year.
A closeup of Rudbeckia hirta, note the hairy stems and the hairy
lanceolate leaves, photograph by the author.
Rudbeckia
hirta and other types of black-eyed susans are biennial and
are from one to three feet (30 to 90 cm) in height. Sometimes a flower will appear in the first
summer after gemination, however usually black-eyed susans do not produce
flowers until their June to September of their second summer: after that they
will regrow from a taproot. Rudbeckia
hirta have hairy stems and the hairy lanceolate leaves, other types of
black-eyed susans do not have hairy stems or leaves and have saw-toothed
leaves, instead.
A picture of one of the black-eyed susans growing in the author’s front
yard, note the saw-toothed leaf edge and the relatively hairless stem, photograph
by the author.
Additionally,
they are thought to have medicinal properties and the Native Americans have historically
used the entire plant; with yellow and green dyes being made from the flowers,
and the roots, stems, leaves and florets have been used to treat colds, earaches,
sores, swellings due to worms, and heart problems2. Originally these flowers were native to
eastern and central North America but have now spread and are found throughout
the western half of the North American continent, as well as in China.
Wild black-eyed susans, growing in an old brownfield, along the Buffalo,
NY waterfront, photographs by the author.
Queen Anne's Lace, growing in an old brownfield, along the Buffalo, NY
waterfront, photograph by the author.
The range of Daucus carota, an excerpt from United States Department of Agriculture, Natural
Resource Conservation Service, “Daucus carota L., Queen Anne's lace”.
Daucus
carota which is its Latin name, is better known in North
America as Queen Anne's Lace, it is also called wild carrot, bird’s nest, or
bishop’s lace, is an invasive species, originally native to the temperate areas
of Europe, southwestern Asia and North Africa: its current range now includes
North America, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. It is believed that the wild carrot spread to
North America, during the early 17th century as a contaminant in
grain imports and that it migrated to Australia with carrot seed that was
shipped to the continent during the late 18th century3. Just like black-eyed susans, it can be found growing
in fields, pastures, prairies, ditches, along railroad tracks and roads, in
open woodlands and brownfields and other abandoned areas at this time of the
year. Queen Anne's Lace is the ancestor
of todays cultivated carrot and it is a biennial plant that grows to as much as
four to five feet (120 to 150 cm) tall, but it is commonly much shorter than that.
The flowers are small, about 5/64 of an inch (about 2mm) and the white flowers
are bisexual, while the few purple-red flowers, which are sometimes found in
the center, are sterile.
A closeup of Queen Anne's Lace, growing in an old brownfield, along the
Buffalo, NY waterfront, note the few purple-red flowers in the center surround
by the white flowers, photograph by the author.
Queen anne’s lace is not
poisonous, in fact it is edible, as you would suppose given that it is the
ancestor of today’s carrot, however, in appearance it is like five other plants. Some are poisonous to touch, all are
poisonous to eat: think Socrates and the cup of poison hemlock! They are giant hogweed, heracleum mantegazzianum; poison hemlock, conium
maculatum; spotted water hemlock, cicuta maculate; cow parsnip, heracleum
maximum; and wild parsnip, pastinaca sativa. All except the wild parsnip have clusters of
small white flowers, the wild parsnip has yellow flowers, and all are very tall
plants, with the giant hogweed reaching up to 18 feet (5.5 meters)4. So, before you pick that queen anne’s lace,
make very certain that you know what it is!
Closeups of Queen Anne's Lace, growing in an old brownfield, along the
Buffalo, NY waterfront, note the hairy stems and carrot like leaves,
photographs by the author.
So
enjoy the friendly yellow flowers of the black-eyed susan and if you are
interested in picking some queen anne's lace to go with your summer bouquet,
just make sure that the white flower that you are picking is in fact queen anne's
lace and not one of its poisonous look-alikes.
I
hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me
on YouTube at Bandanaman Productions for other related videos, HERE.
Don’t forget to follow me on both The
Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE,
and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube. If you have questions, as always, feel free
to leave a comment on either site. I
announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions,
and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.
That
is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!
Notes
1 Echinacea
purpurea, also known as eastern purple coneflower, purple coneflower, or hedgehog
coneflower.
2 United
States Department of Agriculture, “Rudbeckia hirta L., blackeyed Susan”
3 Invasive
Species Compendium, “Daucus carota, (carrot)”
4
For a good article on these look alike plants go to “Don’t touch these plants! Six lookalikes you
want to avoid”, by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
HERE.
Sources
“43
Different Types of Black-Eyed Susans”, [© 2020 by Home Stratosphere], https://www.homestratosphere.com/types-of-black-eyed-susans/,
accessed August 7, 2020
“Black-eyed
Susan, Hairy (Rudbeckia hirta)” [© 1998-2020 The Mary T. and Frank L. Hoffman
Family Foundation], https://www.all-creatures.org/picb/wfshl-blackeyedsusan-rh.html,
accesses August 7, 2020
Invasive Species
Compendium, “Daucus carota, (carrot)”, [© Copyright 2020 CAB International], https://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/18018#tosummaryOfInvasiveness, accessed July 25, 2020
Mitchell, Stacey; “PLANTS Database
Provides Answers for Vegetative Questions”, February 21, 2017, [United
States Department of Agriculture], https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2013/09/26/plants-database-provides-answers-vegetative-questions, accessed July 25, 2020
United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resource Conservation
Service, “Daucus carota L., Queen Anne's lace”, https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=DACA6, accessed July 25, 2020
United States Department of Agriculture,
Natural Resource Conservation Service, “Rudbeckia
hirta L., blackeyed Susan”, https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=RUHI2, accessed July 25, 2020
U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, “Don’t touch these plants! Six lookalikes you want to
avoid”, May 22, 2020, [Department of the Interior] https://www.fws.gov/midwest/news/PlantsToAvoid.html, Accessed August 5, 2020
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