Late Goldenrod (Solidago gigantea)
- Family: Aster (Asteraceae)
- Flowering: July-October.
- Field Marks: This tall goldenrod has glabrous stems with toothed, lanceolate leaves that have 3 principal veins. The flowers are formed along one side of terminal racemes.
- Habitat: Wet woods, sloughs, wet prairies, along rivers and streams, around ponds and lakes.
- Habit: Perennial herb with long, slender rhizomes.
- Stems: Erect, smooth, sometimes bluish, up to 8 feet tall.
- Leaves: Alternate, simple, lanceolate, pointed at the tip, tapering to the base, sharply toothed, smooth or somewhat hairy, 3-veined, up to 5 inches long, up to 3/4 inch broad.
- Flowers: Borne in small heads, the heads arranged in a much-branched panicle and usually on only one side of the branches, yellow; each head up to 1/4 inch across, subtended by several pointed, yellowish bracts, consisting of 7-17 rays.
- Sepals: 0.
- Petals: 5, united into flat yellow rays up to 1/16 inch long.
- Stamens: 5.
- Pistils: Ovary inferior.
- Fruits: Achenes about 1/12 inch long, short-hairy.
Previous Species -- Zigzag Goldenrod (Solidago flexicaulis)
Return to Species List -- Group 8
Next Species -- Roughleaf Goldenrod (Solidago patula)