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Solidago altissima - (image 1 of 6)

Taxonomy

Family: Asteraceae

Habitat

Found in a wide range of degraded, open, or partly shaded habitats.

Associates

 Distribution

Most of the U.S. and southern Canada east of the Rockies.

Morphology

Herbaceous perennial to 2 m high; stems terete, short hairy and rough below the inflorescence; leaves tri-nerved, the lower surface of the blade hairy on and between the veins, lowest leaves about the same size as the lower, abruptly reduced and bracteate in the inflorescence, lowest leaves usually brown and dead, not leafy in axils, subtending leaves not exceeding the inflorescence; heads in terminal panicles; flowers bright yellow; involucres 3-4 mm.

Notes

Flowers mid July to mid September

Wetland indicator: FACU

Solidago canadensis is similar but has involucres mostly 2-3 mm long (image 4, top). Solidago altissima often has galls on the stems (image 6), while S. canadensis supposedly does not get these.

References

Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.

The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY

Swink, F. and G. Wilhelm. 1994. Plants of the Chicago Region.
Indiana Academy of Science. The Morton Arboretum. Lisle, Illinois.

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