clasping coneflower, Rudbeckia amplexicaulis

There is a group of plants that hangs out along the Gulf coast and into the Mississippi Basin. If one travels from the north (Michigan for instance) to Texas, there will be a good sample. Great things like copper iris and clasping coneflower await. This southerner is now becoming popular in gardens, and it won't be surprising to see it popping up outside its original range. Clasping coneflower is an annual and can happily spend a season farther north. There is a little waffling about this scientific name, with some beginning to call it Dracopis amplexicaulis. Clasping coneflowers now grow in AL, AR, FL, GA, IL, KS, LA, MO, MS, MD, NM, OK, SC, and TX. Harris Co TX, 4/16/22. Aster family, Asteraceae.