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

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

When you pay, say, $12 for a black-eyed Susan in a 1-gallon pot at the garden center, you are not really buying a black-eyed Susan.

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

It’s a riot of red rose and orange tiger lily, pink lilac and white yucca, purple catnip and black-eyed Susan.

From Washington Times • Jun. 27, 2015

The man made an extremely rude hand gesture at the black-eyed Susan vines covering one wall.

From "The House of the Scorpion" by Nancy Farmer