3. Solidago buckleyi Torr. & A. Gray

Pl. 238 a–c; Map 992

Plants with the rootstock short and sometimes branched, not producing rhizomes. Stems 1 to several, 40–120 cm long, erect or ascending, finely ridged, sparsely to moderately pubescent with short, curved or occasionally stiff hairs, sometimes only sparsely hairy toward the base, not shiny, not glaucous. Leaves chiefly cauline, the largest leaves in the lower 1/3 of the stem, the basal leaves absent at flowering. Basal and lowermost stem leaves with the blade 6–12 cm long, 2–5 cm wide, variously 3–5 times as long as wide, oblanceolate to elliptic or obovate, relatively thin, angled or tapered to a sessile or short-petiolate base, angled or more commonly short-tapered to a sharply pointed tip, the margins usually sharply toothed and hairy, the surfaces not sticky or shiny, the upper surface glabrous or sparsely to moderately short-hairy along the main veins, the undersurface moderately pubescent with short (0.4–0.7 mm long) hairs along the main veins, with 1 main vein, the fine, pinnate secondary veins relatively easily observed (these usually forming an irregular network). Median and upper stem leaves 1–15 cm long, the uppermost usually lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, otherwise similar to the lower stem leaves. Inflorescences of axillary clusters grading into a narrow, racemose panicle, the heads oriented in several directions when short ascending branches are present. Involucre 4.5–6.0 mm long, the bracts in 3 or 4 unequal series. Involucral bracts mostly narrowly oblong-lanceolate and sharply pointed at the tip, appressed-ascending or more commonly at least the outermost involucral bracts loosely ascending or with the tips somewhat spreading to recurved, the thin, white to yellowish white margins hairy, the outer surface glabrous or more commonly sparsely to moderately hairy, the hairs minute and sometimes gland-tipped, with a poorly defined, green central region toward the tip, this tapered abruptly to the midvein above or below the bract midpoint, the midvein usually noticeably thickened. Receptacle naked. Ray florets 6–9, the corollas 3.5–5.0 mm long, yellow. Disc florets 8–15, the corollas 4–5 mm long, the lobes 0.9–1.5 mm long, yellow. Pappus 4–5 mm long, a few of the bristles often slightly thickened toward the tip. Fruits 2–3 mm long, narrowly obovoid, glabrous at maturity. September–October.

Scattered in the Ozark and Ozark Border Divisions, and also on Crowley’s Ridge (Missouri to Arkansas east to Indiana, Kentucky, and Alabama). Glades, bases, ledges, and tops of bluffs, mesic to dry upland forests, and savannas; also roadsides and open, disturbed areas.

Steyermark (1963) retained this species as doubtfully distinct from S. petiolaris, based on the presence of apparently intermediate plants in Missouri. Cronquist (1980) mentioned S. buckleyi following his treatment of S. petiolaris but did not formally treat it for the southeastern United States, stating that its taxonomic position was uncertain. Nesom (1990d) studied a large series of herbarium specimens of the S. petiolaris complex and provisionally maintained S. buckleyi as a distinct species. However, he noted differences between the eastern populations that have been called S. buckleyi (on which the name originally was based) and the Ozarkian populations, speculating that the two sets of populations may represent separate, morphologically cryptic taxa. As had earlier workers, Nesom concluded that more detailed population-level studies were needed to clarify the taxonomy of the complex.