Solidago flexicaulis

Solidago flexicaulis, the broadleaved goldenrod,[2] or zigzag goldenrod,[3] is a North American species of herbaceous perennial plants in the family Asteraceae. It is native to the eastern and central parts of the United States and Canada, from Nova Scotia west to Ontario and the Dakotas, and south as far as Alabama and Louisiana.[4] It grows in a variety of habitats including mesic upland forests, well drained floodplain forests, seepage swamp hummocks, and rocky woodlands.[5][2][6]

Solidago flexicaulis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Solidago
Species:
S. flexicaulis
Binomial name
Solidago flexicaulis
Synonyms[1]
  • Aster latifolius (L.) Kuntze 1891 not Mill. 1768
  • Doria flexicaulis (L.) Lunell
  • Solidago latifolia L.
  • Solidago scrophulariifolia Mill.

The plant is called the "zigzag goldenrod" because the thin, wiry stem zigs and zags back and forth, changing direction at each node (leaf attachment point). The plant bears sometimes as many as 250 small yellow flower heads, some at the end of the stem, others in the axils of the leaves. The leaves are very broad, almost round, but with an elongated tip at the end and large teeth along the edges.[2]

Solidago flexicaulis shares some similarities to Solidago albopilosa, both molecularly and physically. There is some evidence indicating that the plant is an ancient autopolyploid of S. flexicaulis.[7]

  • Photo showing elongated inflorescence
    Photo showing elongated inflorescence

Galls

This species is host to the following insect induced galls:

external link to gallformers

References
  1. "Solidago flexicaulis". The Global Compositae Checklist (GCC) – via The Plant List. Note that this website has been superseded by World Flora Online
  2. Semple, John C.; Cook, Rachel E. (2006). "Solidago flexicaulis". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). Vol. 20. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  3. USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Solidago flexicaulis". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  4. "Solidago flexicaulis". County-level distribution map from the North American Plant Atlas (NAPA). Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2014.
  5. Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora
  6. Blanchan, Neltje (2005). Wild Flowers Worth Knowing. Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.
  7. Esselman, Elizabeth J.; Crawford, Daniel J. (April 1997). "Molecular and Morphological Evidence for the Origin of Solidago albopilosa (Asteraceae), a Rare Endemic of Kentucky". Systematic Botany. 22 (2): 245. doi:10.2307/2419456. ISSN 0363-6445.


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