Solidago gigantea Aiton(Kuntze) McNeill
smooth goldenrod (buffalo-bur; giant goldenrod; late goldenrod)
Asteraceae (Aster family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
smooth goldenrod (buffalo-bur; giant goldenrod; late goldenrod)
Asteraceae (Aster family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
SUBTAXA PRESENT IN BC
Solidago gigantea var. shinnersii
Species Information
General:
Perennial herb from a fibrous-rooted, creeping rhizome; stems erect, solitary, branched above, the branches recurved and1-sided, glabrous below, glaucous and fine-hairy in the inflorescence, 0.5-2.0 m tall.
Leaves:
Basal leaves lacking or, like the lower stem leaves, reduced and soon deciduous; stem leaves lanceolate to elliptic-oblong, 8-15 cm long, 1.3-3.5 cm wide, alternate, simple, sharply saw-toothed or entire, 3-nerved, glabrous.
Flowers:
Heads with ray and disk flowers, numerous in a dense pyramidal inflorescence; involucres 2-5 mm tall; involucral bracts lanceolate, often blunt, overlapping, glabrous; ray flowers 9-16, 2-2.5 mm long; disk flowers yellow.
Fruits:
Achenes short-hairy; pappus of numerous white hairlike bristles.
Illustration
If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
USDA Species Characteristics
Flower Colour:
Yellow
Blooming Period:
Indeterminate
Fruit/Seed characteristics:
Colour: Brown
Present from Summer to Fall
Source: The USDA
Habitat and Range
Moist meadows, streambanks and forest openings in the montane zone; rare in SC and SE BC, known only from Trail and Golden; E to PQ and S to GA, OR and MX.Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Solidago leiophallax Friesner
Solidago leiophallax Friesner
Solidago gigantea subsp. serotina (Kuntze) McNeill