U.S. #2997
1995 32¢ Rudbeckia
Fall Garden Flowers
Issue Date: September 16, 1995
City: Encinitas, CA
Quantity: 200,000,000
Printed By: Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Printing Method: Lithographed and engraved
Perforations: 10.9 vertical
Color: Multicolored
Rudbeckia
Rudbeckias are those beloved flowers with yellow petals radiating from central black disks – known as “Black-eyed Susans” to most people. Native to North America, rudbeckias brighten our roadways, meadows, and mountainsides as well as cultivated gardens. Rudbeckias were named to honor the Swedish physician and botanist Rudbeck, founder of the botanical garden of Uppsala. Rudbeck’s assistant was Linneaus, the man responsible for our classification system of plants and animals.
Like all members of the compositae family, each bloom is not one, but many flowers. The dark central disk is a flower as is each petal that radiates from it.
Flowers have long been cultivated for food, medicine, fragrance, and dyes. In Europe, life was harsh during the Middle Ages, with everyone focusing on spiritual rather than worldly matters. The Renaissance changed all that and people began studying man and the world around them. Horticulture was one of many scientific endeavors in which the nobility actively participated. Because of those efforts, the world enjoys more varieties of flowers than ever before. Today, ordinary people can cultivate flowers for pleasure – once an exclusive privilege of royalty and wealth.