(11-10-2024 TINTERN ABBEY, WEXFORD - ORANGE CONEFLOWER (Rudbeckia fulgida)

Rudbeckia fulgida, the orange coneflower[1] or perennial coneflower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to eastern North America.

It is an herbaceous perennial growing up to 120 cm (47 in) tall, with bright yellow daisy-like composite flower heads.

Rudbeckia fulgida spreads by both stoloniferous stems and seed. The seeds are produced in fruits called cypselae, which are 2.2 to 4 millimetres (0.09 to 0.16 in) long and have short coroniform pappi 0.2 millimetres (0.008 in) long.

The ripe seed is a favorite food of finches in winter.

Stems are hairy, ridged, and dark green. Leaves are dark green, sparsely but roughly haired, simple, with sparsely serrate margins. Flowers are heads, with black disk florets and bright orange ray florets, borne singly on stems that extend above the foliage. Stems are glabrous (smooth) or moderately hirsute (hairy) with spreading branches. The leaves have blades that are lanceolate to broadly ovate or elliptic in shape without lobes. The leaf bases are attenuate to cordate in shape and the margins of the leaves are usually entire or serrate, or sometimes lacerate. The upper surfaces of the leaves are glabrous or have hirsute to strigose hairs.