Brown-eyed Susan
Rudbeckia triloba
79
Strong
Native to Mississippi. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 94%
- Height
- 3–5 feet
- Spread
- 1–1.5 feet
- Light
- Full sun, Partial shade
- Soil moisture
- Somewhat dry to moist
Space about 1 ft apart from its recorded spread, about 100 per 100 sq ft. Enter your bed size for a count
Will it fit your yard?
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Biennial or perennial
- Leaves
- Deciduous
- Bloom
- August to October
- Fruiting season
- Fall
JFMAMJJASOND
Recorded in 15 Mississippi counties.
Care
- Optional bloom tip: Removing spent flowers can encourage more blooms.
Ecological relationships
Who uses this plant?
16CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including MS
Genus host records with ranges including MS · Rudbeckia
- Chlosyne nycteisSilvery Checkerspot
- Acharia stimuleaSaddleback Caterpillar Moth
- Adaina ambrosiaeAmbrosia Plume Moth, Ragweed Plume Moth
- Archips griseaGray Archips
- Chlorochlamys chloroleucariaBlackberry Looper Moth
- Epiblema carolinanaGray-Blotched Epiblema
- Epiblema tripartitanaThree-Parted Epiblema
- Eupithecia miserulataCommon Eupithacia, Common Pug
- Homoeosoma electellaSunflower Moth
- Papaipema cataphractaBurdock Border, Potato-Stalk Borer
Show all 16
- Papaipema nebrisStalk Borer
- Synchlora aerataWavy-Lined Emerald, Camouflaged Looper
- Synchlora frondariaSouthern Emerald
- Vanessa carduiPainted Lady, Cosmopolite
- Isophrictis rudbeckiella
- Paralobesia rhoifructana
56BeesSoutheastern regional records
Southeastern regional records · Rudbeckia
Individual names are not available yet.
Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
25Specialist beesPollen specialists
Pollen specialists · Rudbeckia
- Andrena aliciae
- Andrena asteris
- Andrena rudbeckiae
- Diadasia enavata
- Dieunomia bolliana
- Dieunomia heteropoda
- Megachile inimica
- Megachile parallela
- Megachile pugnata
- Megachile xylocopoides
Show all 25
- Melissodes bidentis
- Melissodes boltoniae
- Melissodes coreopsis
- Melissodes denticulatus
- Melissodes dentiventris
- Melissodes desponsus
- Melissodes druriellus
- Melissodes illatus
- Melissodes subillatus
- Melissodes trinodis
- Melissodes wheeleri
- Paranthidium jugatorium
- Perdita octomaculata
- Protandrena albitarsis
- Protandrena andrenoides
—BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
1AntsRecorded seed interactions
- Lasius neoniger
Lasius neoniger: Seed predation.
Beetles 1
- Epicauta pennsylvanica
Flower visits · Carlinville, Illinois, USA
Flies 22
- Anthrax fulvohirta
- Anthrax halcyon
- Archytas analis
- Cistogaster occidua
- Eristalis latifrons
- Exoprosopa decora
- Exoprosopa fasciata
- Exoprosopa fascipennis
- Geron rufipes
- Leskiomima secunda
Show all 22
- Peleteria robusta
- Phthiria cincta
- Ptilodexia abdominalis
- Senotainia trilineata
- Siphoplagia anomala
- Spallanzania hesperidarum
- Spilomyia longicornis
- Systoechus vulgaris
- Systropus macer
- Trichophora ruficauda
- Volucella fasciata
- Zodion obliquefasciatum
Flower visits · Carlinville, Illinois, USA
Adult butterflies / moths 2
- Phyciodes tharos
- Pontia protodice
Flower visits · Carlinville, Illinois, USA
Other wasps 8
- Bembix spinolae
- Bicyrtes ventralis
- Exetastes suaveolens
- Leionotus arvensis
- Polistes variatus
- Sphex gracilis
- Sphex nigricans
- Stictiella pictifrons
Flower visits · Carlinville, Illinois, USA
No records yet · Other insects
Growing and identification
Plant details
- Family
- Asteraceae
- Hardiness
- Zones 4a–8b
- Flower color
- Black, brown/copper or yellow
- Fruit begins
- Fall
- Fruit ends
- Fall
What its natural habitat tells you
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “August to October” · Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide · Nursery cultural guide; height in flower; moisture categories retained as printed
- Flower color · “Black, brown/copper or yellow” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide differ)
- Fruit begins · “Fall” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox · Species profile fruit display season; not a local ripening date
- Fruit ends · “Fall” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox · Species profile fruit display season; not a local ripening date
- Hardiness · “Zones 4a–8b” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder differs)
- Height · “3–5 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Tennessee Smart Yards, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder, Minnesota Wildflowers, Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide differ)
- Leaves · “Deciduous” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Life cycle · “Biennial or perennial” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Minnesota Wildflowers differ)
- Light · “Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day); Partial shade (direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours)” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Tennessee Smart Yards, Virginia DCR Piedmont, Virginia DCR Coastal Plain, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder, Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide differ)
- Soil · “Moist; Occasionally dry” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Tennessee Smart Yards, Virginia DCR Piedmont, Virginia DCR Coastal Plain, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder, Prairie Moon 2026 Cultural Guide differ)
- Spread · “1–1.5 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
Also known as
Brown eyed Susan; Browneyed Susan; Three Lobed Coneflower
Conservation status
| Mississippi rank | S4 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5 |
| MS status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
In your garden
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Choose a county to begin.
Growing cautions
- Self-seeds. Somewhat weedy; self-seeds. NC State Extension Plant Toolbox
For planning only; these do not change the score or Fit.
Sources
- NatureServe Explorer
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- Mississippi occurrence source
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications