black-eyed Susan

American  

noun

1. any of a number of composite plants having daisylike flowers with a dark center disk and usually yellow ray flowers, especially Rudbeckia hirta: the state flower of Maryland.

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black-eyed Susan British  

noun

1. any of several North American plants of the genus Rudbeckia , esp R. hirta , having flower heads of orange-yellow rays and brown-black centres: family Asteraceae (composites)

2. a climbing plant, Thunbergia alata , native to tropical Africa but widely naturalized elsewhere, having yellow flowers with purple centres, grown as a greenhouse annual

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Etymology

Origin of black-eyed Susan

An Americanism dating back to 1890–95

Example Sentences

Footage of giant yellow black-eyed Susan flowers beams onto the wall from one projector, intersecting with video of swaying plants from another.

From Los Angeles Times • May 27, 2026

It is one of the region's largest oaks and a vital ecosystem for rare lichens like the black-eyed Susan.

From BBC • Mar. 19, 2025

Suddenly it’s not a black-eyed Susan, it’s a Cecil B. DeMille movie with a cast of thousands.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 18, 2021

In the Beacon Heights area of Prince George’s, a mosaic of colorful tiles will have Maryland’s state flower, the black-eyed Susan, woven throughout.

From Washington Post • Jun. 22, 2019

That dog must of wet every black-eyed Susan and every head of white Queen Anne’s lace we passed.

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns