
Rudbeckia (Latin Rudbéckia) is a genus of annual, biennial and perennial herbaceous plants of the Astrope family, or Asteraceae, which includes about 40 species.The natural distribution of plants of this genus is found in North America, many species grow on the prairies.Some species are cultivated as decorative, often wild, common in Europe and Africa.Black-eyed Suzanne (English Black-eyed Susan), because of the darkly colored hearts of the inflorescences. The shape of the inflorescence-basket, apparently, determined the popular German name - Sun hat (German Leuchtender Sonnenhut).
The modern scientific name of the genus was given by Karl Linnaeus in honor of the Swedish botanists, the father of Olof Rudbeck the elder and the son of Olof Rudbeck the younger, the latter was a friend and teacher of Linnaeus at Uppsala University.