Perennials, to 150 cm (rhizomatous, roots fibrous). Leaves green, blades elliptic to lanceolate (not lobed), ± leathery, bases attenuate to cuneate, margins entire, serrate, or toothed, apices acute to acuminate, faces glabrous or sparsely hairy; basal 15-50 × 3-9 cm; cauline petiolate or sessile, 5-50 × 2-12 cm. Heads borne singly or (2-5) in ± corym-biform arrays. Phyllaries to 2.5 cm (margins sometimes ciliate). Receptacles ovoid to ellipsoid; paleae 6-8 mm, apices acute (appressed in young heads), abaxial tips hairy. Ray florets 10-16; laminae oblong to oblanceolate, 20-50 × 8-12 mm, abaxially hairy. Discs 20-45 × 10-20 mm. Disc florets 200-500+; corollas proximally greenish yellow, distally maroon, 3.5-5 mm; style branches ca. 2 mm, apices acute. Cypselae 5-7.5 mm; pappi coroniform, to 1.5 mm. 2n = 36.

Flowering late spring-fall. Swales, prairies, ditches, bayous; 0-50 m; La., Tex.

Rudbeckia texana grows in western Louisiana and eastern Texas.