black-eyed Susan

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.

black-eyed Susan

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of black-eyed Susan¹

An Americanism dating back to 1890–95