261a. Rudbeckia Linnaeus sect. Dracopis (Cassini) A. Gray in A. Gray et al., Syn. Fl. N. Amer. 1(2): 263. 1884.
Obeliscaria Cassini subg. Dracopis Cassini in F. Cuvier, Dict. Sci. Nat. ed. 2, 35: 273. 1825; Dracopis (Cassini) Cassini
Annuals, 25–60(–120) cm (taprooted). Stems green (glaucous, glabrous). Leaves bluish green, glaucous; basal (seldom persisting to flowering) petiolate or sessile, blades elliptic, lanceolate, oblanceolate, oblong, or ovate, not lobed, bases (cauline) auriculate and clasping, margins crenate, entire or serrate, apices acute or acuminate, faces glabrous; cauline sessile, blades elliptic, lanceolate, oblanceolate, oblong, or ovate, bases auriculate and clasping, margins crenate, entire or serrate, apices acute or acuminate, faces glabrous. Heads in loose, corymbiform arrays or borne singly. Phyllaries in 2 series (lengths of outer 2–5+ times inner, inner similar to and sometimes interpreted as paleae). Receptacles ovoid to conic; paleae surpassing cypselae (margins ciliate), apices obtuse to acute, often mucronate, faces hairy subapically, glabrous near apices. Ray florets 6–10+; corollas yellow, sometimes partly orange or maroon (laminae often with proximal maroon splotch). Discs 15–30 × 8–15 mm. Disc florets to 400+; corollas proximally greenish yellow, distally purplish; styles ca. 5 mm, branches ca. 1.7 mm, proximal 1/2 stigmatic, apices subulate. Cypselae 1.8–2.5 mm; pappi 0. x = 16.
Species 1: c, e United States.
Rudbeckia sect. Dracopis is sometimes recognized at generic rank as Dracopis. DNA-based phylogenetic analyses support its placement in Rudbeckia, where it was treated by Gray as a section. The single species resembles those in sect. Macrocline; it is often placed there based on DNA evidence; the relationship is not uniformly conclusive.
