Black-eyed Susan … and visitor
Image by Thomas Cizauskas
Uninvited intruder on homeboy. A Japanese beetle munches on a native black-eyed Susan wildflower.
Trailhead Community Park of the East Decatur Greenway
Decatur (Winnona Park), Georgia, USA.
9 June 2023.
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▶ "Rudbeckia hirta —commonly called black-eyed Susan— is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to eastern and central North America.
Rudbeckia hirta is an upright annual growing 12 to 39 inches tall (30–100 cm) by 12 to 18 inches wide (30–45 cm). The plant produces daisy-like, composite flower heads, in late summer and early autumn [although appearing here in late spring], up to 4 inches in diameter (10 cm) with yellow ray florets circling a conspicuous brown or black, dome-shaped cone of many small disc florets.
The specific epithet ‘hirta’ is Latin for ‘hairy,’ referring to trichomes occurring on the leaves and stems. [Trichomes are epidermal outgrowths. Hair is one common type.]"
— Wikipedia.
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▶ Thank you to Flickr-er Bárbol for identifying the flower’s unwelcome visitor: an invasive Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica). [See comment below.]
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▶ Photo by Yours For Good Fermentables.com.
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▶ Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10 II.
— Lens: Olympus M.14-42mm F3.5-5.6 II R.
— Edit: Photoshop Elements 15, Nik Collection (2016).
▶ Commercial use requires explicit permission, as per Creative Commons.
