Home Flora of Missouri
Home
Name Search
Families
Volumes
Rudbeckia maxima Nutt. Search in The Plant ListSearch in IPNISearch in Australian Plant Name IndexSearch in NYBG Virtual HerbariumSearch in Muséum national d'Histoire naturelleSearch in Type Specimen Register of the U.S. National HerbariumSearch in Virtual Herbaria AustriaSearch in JSTOR Plant ScienceSearch in SEINetSearch in African Plants Database at Geneva Botanical GardenAfrican Plants, Senckenberg Photo GallerySearch in Flora do Brasil 2020Search in Reflora - Virtual HerbariumSearch in Living Collections Decrease font Increase font Restore font
 

Published In: Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, new series 7: 354–355. 1840. (Oct-Dec 1840) (Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., n.s.) Name publication detailView in BotanicusView in Biodiversity Heritage Library
 

Project Name Data (Last Modified On 8/11/2017)
Acceptance : Accepted
Project Data     (Last Modified On 7/9/2009)
Status: Introduced

 

Export To PDF Export To Word

6. Rudbeckia maxima Nutt. (great coneflower, cabbage coneflower)

Pl. 287 a; Map 1222

Plants perennial, with rhizomes. Stems (60–)80–250 cm long, glabrous, glaucous. Leaves all unlobed, all except the basal and lower stem leaves rounded to shallowly and somewhat obliquely cordate at the base, more or less clasping the stem, the margins entire or shallowly scalloped to bluntly toothed, the surfaces glabrous, smooth, strongly glaucous, appearing gray to bluish green when fresh. Basal and lowermost stem leaves often present at flowering, usually long-petiolate, the blade 10–35 cm long, 40–120 mm wide, narrowly obovate to broadly elliptic or broadly elliptic-obovate, rounded to sharply pointed at the tip. Median and upper stem leaves sessile, the blade 3–20 cm long, 20–150 mm wide, broadly oblong-ovate to oblong-circular, the uppermost sometimes ovate, abruptly tapered to a bluntly or sharply pointed tip. Inflorescences mostly appearing as solitary heads, sometimes 2- or 3-headed open clusters. Involucral bracts 12–20, 8–22 mm long, narrowly ovate to lanceolate or narrowly oblong-lanceolate, usually glabrous and somewhat glaucous, the margins sometimes slightly thickened and yellowish. Receptacle 35–80 mm long, 15–35 mm in diameter, ovoid at the start of flowering, then elongating and becoming conical or somewhat cylindrical. Chaffy bracts subtending only the disc florets, shorter than the disc florets, rounded or broadly angled to a bluntly or sharply pointed tip, the outer surface mostly moderately to densely pubescent with short, tan hairs but glabrous at the tip, the margins similarly hairy but glabrous toward the tip. Ray florets 10–21, the corolla 30–80 mm long, relatively broad, reflexed or strongly drooping at flowering, yellow, the outer surface sparsely short-hairy to nearly glabrous. Disc florets numerous, the corolla 4–6 mm long, greenish yellow to yellow toward the base, dark purple to purplish brown toward the tip, the lobes ascending at flowering. Stigma lobes relatively short and rounded to bluntly pointed at the tip. Pappus of 4–6 scales 0.8–1.8 mm long. Fruits 5–7 mm long. 2n=36. July–August.

Introduced, known thus far only from historical collections from Jackson County (Texas to Louisiana north to Oklahoma and Arkansas; introduced in Missouri and South Carolina). Habitat unknown, but according to Steyermark (1963) railroads.

This species is occasionally cultivated as an ornamental in gardens for its striking grayish foliage and large heads. Cox and Urbatsch (1994) noted that in Texas the plants can become aggressive pasture weeds and that cattle avoid grazing on them.

 
 


 

 
 
© 2024 Missouri Botanical Garden - 4344 Shaw Boulevard - Saint Louis, Missouri 63110