ADDISONIA 51 
(Plate 186) 
RUDBECKIA LACINIATA 
Tall Cone-flower 
Native of the United States and Canada 
Family CARDUACEAE THISTLE Family 
Rudbeckia laciniata 1,. Sp. Pl. 906. 
Few plants are better Kadwar than the rudbeckias or cone- 
flowers. After the common daisy or white-weed, the black-eyed 
susan, Rudbeckia hirta, is perhaps the favorite of our fields and 
roadsides. This and other kinds have been in our gardens many 
years, and in old world gardens are seen even more frequently. 
The most notorious member of the cone-flower group is the “‘ golden 
glow,” which is a “double” form of Rudbeckia laciniata, commonly 
seen in yards and gardens everywhere; it was introduced to culti- 
vation from the nursery of John Lewis Childs, about 1894, and was 
said to have been found among specimens of the normal form. 
The double yellow form is useful as a cut flower, but its garden effect 
is no improvement upon that of the wild form. It is supposed that 
the cultivation of the tall cone-flower dates back to at least the 
year 1640, when it was grown in the garden of Charles I, by John 
Tradescant, his gardener. Other records refer to a ‘‘ Doronicum 
americanum,” in the Parisian garden of Vespasian Robin, before 
1623, which is supposed to have been Rudbeckia laciniata. Perhaps 
all of the cone-flowers are appreciated more as garden. subjects in 
Europe than in their native country. 
The cultivation of the tall cone-flower is very simple, as it is a 
hardy, robust grower, and thrives in almost any soil. It grows 
taller and more vigorously in a moist location reaching a height of 
10 feet, with luxuriant foliage and many greenish-centered yellow 
flower-heads from August to October. With us this plant and the 
golden glow are subject to the attacks of a red aphis, which covers 
the stems, especially at the tops, and ruins the appearance of the 
plants. Whale-oil soap heavily applied has proved effective in 
smothering these plant lice. Our illustration was taken from a 
wild plant in the vicinity of the lakes east of the museum building 
of the New York Botanical Garden. 
The tall cone-flower is a branching perennial herb, sending up 
strong smooth stems to a height of seven feet or more. The lower 
leaves are long-petioled, pinnately divided into five or seven parts 
