2. Rudbeckia fulgida Aiton (orange coneflower)

Pl. 288 f, g; Map 1218

Plants perennial, with fibrous roots and often stolons (new basal rosettes occurring at the stolon tips and often not immediately adjacent to the older stems). Stems 30–120 cm long, sparsely pubescent with short, spreading to ascending hairs, often glabrous toward the base, not glaucous. Leaves all unlobed, variously tapered, angled, rounded, truncate, or cordate at the base, conspicuously clasping to inconspicuously wrapping around the stem, the margins entire or bluntly to sharply and finely to coarsely toothed, the surfaces sparsely to moderately hairy with spreading to loosely ascending, minutely pustular-based hairs, usually slightly to moderately roughened to the touch, not glaucous, green when fresh. Basal and lowermost stem leaves often present at flowering (or present on nearby rosettes), long-petiolate, the blade 5–30 cm long, 10–110 mm wide, narrowly to broadly ovate or elliptic, sometimes more or less heart-shaped, angled or tapered to a sharply pointed tip. Median and upper stem leaves sessile or with a short or rarely long, winged petiole, the blade (1–)2–20 cm long, (5–)12–50(–70) mm wide, lanceolate to oblanceolate or more commonly elliptic to ovate, angled or tapered to a sharply pointed tip. Inflorescences of solitary heads or appearing as loose, open clusters. Involucral bracts 8–14, 8–22 mm long, lanceolate to linear, the outer surface glabrous or sparsely hairy, the margins usually with moderate to dense, ascending hairs. Receptacle 10–16 mm long, 10–18 mm in diameter, hemispherical at the start of flowering, then elongating somewhat and often becoming ovoid. Chaffy bracts subtending only the disc florets, shorter than to nearly as long as the disc florets (including the corolla), rounded or short-tapered to a broadly triangular, bluntly or sharply pointed tip, the outer surface glabrous (rarely with a few short hairs) and often somewhat shiny, the margins with a fringe of moderate to dense, minute, spreading hairs. Ray florets 8–15, the corolla 10–40 mm long, relatively slender, spreading to slightly drooping at flowering, yellow or less commonly the basal portion or the entire corolla orange, the outer surface sparsely short-hairy and sometimes also minutely gland-dotted. Disc florets 50 to numerous, the corolla 3–4 mm long, yellowish green toward the base, dark purple to purplish brown toward the tip, the lobes ascending at flowering. Stigma lobes relatively short and bluntly pointed at the tip. Pappus a minute rim or crown. Fruits 2–4 mm long. 2n=38, 76. July–October.

Scattered in the Ozark, Ozark Border, and Unglaciated Plains Divisions (eastern U.S. west to Wisconsin, Missouri, and Texas; Canada). Banks of streams, rivers, and spring branches, fens and calcareous seeps, marshes, bases and ledges of bluffs, bottomland forests, and rarely moist depressions of dolomite glades; also roadsides.

Some authors have divided this species into as many as seven varieties (Perdue, 1957). The var. fulgida occurs to the east of Missouri and is characterized by its relatively narrow basal and stem leaves with the latter mostly narrowed to short, winged petioles. Steyermark (1963) reluctantly accepted two of the other varieties as occurring in Missouri, but he noted the innate variability of the plants, lack of correlation between some of the distinguishing characters, and large number of specimens intermediate between the two varieties (as well as between these and some other varieties). Cronquist (1980) and Gleason and Cronquist (1991) recognized only three overlapping varieties across the species range and also considered two of these to occur in Missouri. The two varieties are accepted here with some hesitation in part because they tend to occupy somewhat different ranges in Missouri. Users should note that some plants cannot be determined below the species level satisfactorily.