Popular Studies of California Wild Flowers 109 



The Cone Flower (Rudbeckia calif ornica Gray) 

 Composite Family 



By Bertha M. Rice 



The Cone Flower (Rudbeckia calif ornica) is a peculiarly dis- 

 tinctive member of the Composite family of plants, and is a type 

 which is native only to North America. 



Its habitats are the wet meadows of the Sierra Nevada Moun- 

 tains, where in summer time its unique solitary flower head nods 

 gracefully upon the long-stemmed plant, which is usually from two 

 to four feet high. The long, pure yellow rays droop prettily around 

 the purplish-brown disk, which lengthens into a cone, with age, 

 until it frequently becomes from an inch to two inches or more long. 

 It is this cylindrical disk or cone that won for these blossoms their 

 common name, Cone Flower, although school children, with that 

 pertinacity so often characteristic of youth, have found another and 

 an amusingly descriptive name for them that of "Hay Stacks." 



There is an exceedingly odd species of this plant, R. occiden- 

 talis Nutt, having a similar tall cone, but its plain solitary disk 

 stands aloof. The handsome yellow rays are lacking. This vari- 

 ety is found in the mountains of Northern California and in Oregon 

 and eastward to the Rocky Mountains. 



The Rudbeckias are named for two Swedish scientists, Claud 

 Rudbeck and his son, pioneers in the science of botany, who pre- 

 ceded Linnaeus, in the University of Upsala. 



Several species of Rudbeckia have long been cultivated in Euro- 

 pean gardens, and some varieties have a wanderlust which must 

 be pleasing to many people who have a fondness for these quaint 

 blossoms. The most popular of these is the one known as "Black 

 Eyed Susan" (Rudbeckia hirta), which grows in tufts with several 

 flowers in bloom at the same time. They are yellow-rayed and the 

 small .disk .becomes conical as the seeds mature, but its cone does 

 not exceed three-fourths of an inch in height. There is no after- 

 bloom of pappus, as in Rudbeckia californica. The Black Eyed 

 Susans are lovers of hot, sunny fields. This variety is a native of 

 the Mississippi Valley, but has migrated both eastward and west- 

 ward, with the commerce of baled hay, presumably. It is now 

 found quite frequently in this State, and is becoming abundant in 

 the Yosemite Valley, where it is very showy during the months of 

 August and September. There is more than a suspicion that some 

 person has purposely introduced these Black Eyed Susans into our 

 national park, along with other interesting plants, which do not 

 naturally belong in that district. Although undoubtedly furnishing 

 a pleasant surprise to many, particularly tourists, to find the friendly 

 flower faces in our Yosemite, it is sometimes confusing to Western 

 botanists to have their ideas regarding the natural distribution of 

 certain species of plants so strangely upset. 



In the language of flowers, Rudbeckia stands for Justice. 



