Native Distribution (NPIN, 2007)
USA: AL , AR , CA , CO , CT , DE , FL , GA , ID , IL , IN , IA , KS , KY , LA , ME , MD , MA , MI , MN , MS , MO , MT , NE , NV , NH , NJ , NM , NY , NC , ND , OH , OK , OR , PA , RI , SC , SD , TN , TX , UT , VT , VA , WA , WV , WI , WY , DC
Canada: AB , BC , MB , NB , NT , NS , ON , PE , QC , SK
Flowers The panicle (loose, branching flower cluster) is ample and pubescent. Flowers have 7-14 long rays (marginal part of the flower head). The disk and ray flowers are both yellow. (Peattie, 1930) A branched, plumelike flower mass gently curves from the top of the stem. Hundreds of fuzzy, tiny blossoms grace the plume. (Hultman, 1978) The flower head has 10-17 tiny, yellow rays. There are firm, blunt, green bracts (phyllaries). Inflorescence is an open, spreading cluster with the heads mostly along one side of the often backward-curving, long branches. (UW, 2009)
Fruit Fruit/seed color is brown. (USDA PLANTS, 2009) It is a dry seed with short hairs on a fluffy pappus (a downy extension). (UW, 2009)
Leaves leaves are pubescent on the nerves beneath. They are very sharply serrate above the base, rough-ciliate, and lanceolate to oblanceolate. (Peattie, 1930) Leaves have parallel veins and are sharply toothed. (Hultman, 1978) Leaves are green. (NPIN, 2007) Leaves are narrow, pointed at both ends, and stalkless. They are all mostly the same size, sharply toothed, and 3-veined. (UW, 2009)
Stems are stout, smooth, and glaucous. (Peattie, 1930) Stem is pale green or purplish. (Hultman, 1978)
Plant is 2-7' tall. (Hultman, 1978) Height at maturity is 8.2'. (USDA PLANTS, 2009)
Flowers Involucre (cluster of bracts around the flower) is 3.2-4 mm tall. (Peattie, 1930) Inflorescence is roughly 10". (UW, 2009)
Solidago gigantea is a North American plant species in the family Asteraceae.[3]: 211 Its common names include tall goldenrod[4] and giant goldenrod,[5] among others.
Goldenrod is the state flower of Kentucky,[6] and Solidago gigantea is the state flower of Nebraska.[7]
Solidago gigantea is a perennial herb that reaches heights of up to 2 m (6.6 ft) tall, sometimes spreading by means of underground rhizomes. It often grows in clumps with no leaves at the base but numerous leaves on the stem. At the top, each stem produces a sizable array of many small flower heads, sometimes several hundred. Each head is yellow, containing both disc florets and ray florets.[4]
Detail of inflorescence
Solidago gigantea is found in a wide variety of natural habitats, although it is restricted to areas with at least seasonally moist soils.[4][8]
It is a widespread species known from most of non-arctic North America east of the Rocky Mountains. It has been reported from every state and province from Alberta to Nova Scotia to Florida to Texas, and also from the state of Nuevo León in northeastern Mexico.[9][10]
Solidago gigantea is highly invasive throughout Europe and Asia.[11] In its non-native range, it exerts a negative impact on native communities by decreasing species richness and diversity, apparently due to its intense competitive effects,[12] rapid growth,[13] or polyploidization.[14] In the non-native European range, several management options are applied, such as periodical flooding, mowing, mulching, grazing, or herbicide to reduce the negative impact of the species on native biodiversity.[15]
Parasitized by the Basidiomycete Coleosporium asterum.[16]
This species is host to the following insect induced galls:
Solidago gigantea is a North American plant species in the family Asteraceae.: 211 Its common names include tall goldenrod and giant goldenrod, among others.
Goldenrod is the state flower of Kentucky, and Solidago gigantea is the state flower of Nebraska.
