Orange Coneflower
Rudbeckia fulgida
Found in dry to wet meadows. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Northern Tier edition What its natural habitat tells you
Native to West Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 94%
- Height
- 2–3 feet
- Spread
- 1–2 feet
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Somewhat dry to moist
Space about 1.5 ft apart from its recorded spread, about 44 per 100 sq ft. Enter your bed size for a count
Will it fit your yard?
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Leaves
- Evergreen
- Bloom
- Summer and fall
- Fruiting season
- Fall
Recorded in 2 West Virginia counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Open, wet, grassy or sedgy ground that is not a bog.
Care
- Avoid soggy soil.
Who uses this plant?
20CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including WV
Genus host records with ranges including WV · 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
- Lithophane unimodaDowdy Pinion
Show all 20
- Orthotaenia undulanaDusky Leafroller
- Papaipema cataphractaBurdock Border, Potato-Stalk Borer
- Papaipema nebrisStalk Borer
- Papaipema nelitaConeflower Borer
- Papaipema unimodaMeadow Rue Borer, Chain Fern Border Moth
- Phtheochroa birdanaBird's Cochylid
- Synchlora aerataWavy-Lined Emerald, Camouflaged Looper
- Vanessa carduiPainted Lady, Cosmopolite
- Epiblema tandana
- 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
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Asteraceae
- Hardiness
- Zones 3a–9b
- Flower color
- Black, yellow or orange
- Fruit begins
- Fall
- Fruit ends
- Fall
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “Summer and fall” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition differs)
- Flower color · “Black, yellow or orange” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- 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 3a–9b” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Height · “2–3 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Leaves · “Evergreen” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Light · “Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day)” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Tennessee Smart Yards, Virginia DCR Piedmont differ)
- Soil · “Good drainage; Moist; Occasionally dry” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Tennessee Smart Yards, Virginia DCR Piedmont differ)
- Spread · “1–2 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
Conservation status
| West Virginia rank | S3 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5 |
| WV status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Growing cautions
- Spreads by rhizomes. Spreads by rhizomes into large clumps. NC State Extension Plant Toolbox
- Needs good drainage. Avoid soggy soil. 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)
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Northern Tier edition
- West Virginia 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

