Solidago virgata Michx.

Wand Goldenrod

Herb

Perennial

Vascular

Wand Goldenrod is a native herbaceous perennial in the Sunflower family (Asteraceae). It is native to the southern third of Alabama. Wand Goldenrod occurs in bogs, in seeps, along small streams, in wet roadside ditches, and in wet pine flatwoods. It is a perennial from elongate rhizomes. Stems are erect, 1-4 feet in height, sometimes the taller one’s arching, unbranched, green in color, and glabrous. The leaves are basal and cauline. The basal leaves are oblanceolate to elliptic in outline, obscurely serrate to nearly entire, thick in texture, glabrous, with winged petioles. Cauline leaves are rapidly reduced in size, lanceolate to linear in outline, entire, sessile, and appressed. Flowers are produced in heads. The heads are arranged in narrow, elongate, paniculiform arrays with ascending branches. Each head has 3-7 yellow ray flowers and 8-12 yellow disc flowers. The fruit is a pubescent achene with a crown of pappus.—A. Diamond

This species for much of its history has been referred to erroneously as Solidago stricta Ait., a taxon now understood to not occur in the Alabama flora. (Semple 2013).

Native OBL (NWPL)

Semple, J.C. 2013. Application of the names Solidago stricta and S. virgata (Asteraceae: Astereae). Phytoneuron 2013-42: 1-3. Published 1 July 2013.