Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

LATE GOLDENROD

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Solidago gigantea Aiton

Douglas County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 2-6+ feet

Family: Asteraceae - Sunflower Family

Flowering Period: August, September,October

Also Called:

Giant goldenrod, smooth goldenrod.

Stems:

Erect, 1-20, or loosely clustered, usually reddish, glabrous, waxy, lightly-hairy among heads in inflorescence.

Leaves:

Alternate, sessile or weakly stalked; basal leaves absent at flowering; middle stem leaves numerous, thin, lanceolate, 2.4 to 6.4 inches long, .4 to 1.8 inches wide, tapering at both ends, conspicuously 3-veined, underside glabrous or sometimes slightly pubescent on veins; margins nearly entire to sharply toothed; tip tapering to point.

Inflorescences:

Panicle-like, dense, often leafy, triangular in outline; branches curved downward at tips; heads directed to 1-side.

Flowers:

Involucre 1/10 to 1/6 inch tall; bracts unequal, pointed, tips greenish; ray florets 8-18, yellow; disk florets 7-17, yellow.

Fruits:

Achene, cylindrical, ribbed, sparsely short-hairy, tipped with numerous white, hair-like bristles, enclosing small seed.

Habitat:

Low wet areas, moist woods and prairie depressions, edges of ponds and streams, damp thickets, and roadsides.

Distribution:

Throughout Kansas.

Uses:

Native Americans used the blossoms to treat fevers and used the stems to make baskets.