Solidago mexicana L.

Southern Seaside Goldenrod

Herb

Perennial

Vascular

Southern Seaside Goldenrod is a native herbaceous perennial in the Sunflower family. It is native to coastal areas of Alabama. Southern Seaside Goldenrod occurs on dunes, in coastal marshes, and in maritime forests near the coast. It is a perennial reaching 4-6 feet in height. Leaves are basal and cauline. Basal and lower cauline leaves are petiolate with winged petioles, lanceolate to oblanceolate in outline, entire, and glabrous. The basal leaves form a rosette that is present at flowering. The leaves are thick and somewhat fleshy in texture. Upper leaves are smaller in size and sessile. Flowers are produced in heads. The heads are arranged in second panicles. Each head has 7-11 yellow ray flowers and 10-16 yellow disc flowers. The fruit is an achene. Until recently Southern Seaside Goldenrod was included within Solidago sempervirens Linnaeus where it was treated as a variety or subspecies. Solidago sempervirens sensu stricto occurs from North Carolina northwards while Solidago mexicana occurs from North Carolina southwards into Mexico.—A. Diamond

Specimens below identified as S. sempervirens should be reevaluated and are probably identifiable with S. mexicana. After Semple et al (2016), it appears that S. sempervirens is not an element of the Alabama flora.

Native

Semple, J.C., T. Shea, H. Rahman, Y. Ma, and K. Kornobis. 2016. A multivariate study of the Solidago sempervirens complex (Asteraceae: Astereae: S. subsect. Maritimae). Phytoneuron 2016-73. 1-31.