Small sunflower-like plant, 1 to 3 feet tall. Stems bristly-hairy. Flowerheads large, 2 to 4 inches wide, with about a dozen yellow-orange rays around a dark brown cone. Flower rays narrwed at tip. Leaves egg-shaped to narrow oval, sometimes toothed. Blooms in late summer.

Common cheerful native of dry or moist places. Occasional in open areas of Wildwood.

The conical central disk is typical of coneflowers in the genus Rudbeckia. Thin-leaved conelower (R. triloba) has smaller flowers and the lower leaves have 3 lobes. Shining coneflower (R. fulgida) also has smaller flowers, but leaves are more like black-eyed Susan's. Green-headed coneflower (R. laciniata) has large flowers and leaves divided into leaflets.