Tall goldenrod.....

Perennial.  Typical height is from 4 to 6 feet.  Colony-forming from creeping rhizomes.  Stems are densely pubescent throughout.

The inflorescence is ± compact, confined to the summit of the stem, often "pyramidal" in shape.  Branches are relatively short, crowded, spreading, or sometimes ascending.

Flower heads are radiate, arranged one-sided on branches.  Ray and disc floret corollas are yellow.  The outermost involucral bracts and peduncles are minutely glandular (viewed at 20x or higher).

Basal and lowermost stem leaves are deciduous at flowering.  Mid- to upper stem leaves are oblanceolate, with three long, main veins that run approximately parallel to each other.  Leaf margins are usually shallowly toothed (sometimes nearly untoothed).  Lower surfaces of leaves are typically pubescent across the entire leaf surface.

Spherical stem galls, created by the parasitic fly larva, Eurosta solidaginis, are often found on the stems of Solidago altissima.

Plants of old fields, roadsides, thickets and disturbed sites.  Flowers late August to early October.  Native.

Our plants are Solidago altissima L. ssp. altissima

Similar species:  Solidago canadensis and Solidago gigantea.

Images & text copyright Arieh Tal, 1990 to 2023.  All rights reserved.