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Published In: Species Plantarum 2: 880. 1753. (1 May 1753) (Sp. Pl.) Name publication detailView in BotanicusView in Biodiversity Heritage Library
 

Project Name Data (Last Modified On 8/11/2017)
Acceptance : Accepted
Project Data     (Last Modified On 7/9/2009)
Status: Native

 

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20. Solidago rigida L. (stiff goldenrod, rigid goldenrod)

Oligoneuron rigidum (L.) Small

Pl. 237 g, h; Map 1009

Plants with the rootstock short and branched, often producing short-creeping, stout rhizomes. Stems 1 to several, 30–150 cm long, erect or ascending, with several fine, longitudinal ridges or grooves, usually moderately to densely pubescent with short, curved hairs, rarely sparsely hairy to glabrous toward the base or nearly entirely glabrous below the inflorescence, not shiny. Leaves basally disposed, often persistent at flowering (additional rosettes sometimes present adjacent to the flowering stem). Basal and lowermost stem leaves with the blade 8–20 cm long, 1.8–4.0 cm wide, mostly 3–6 times as long as wide, oblanceolate to elliptic-obovate, ovate, or oblong-elliptic, not or only slightly thickened but often somewhat stiff, tapered to a long petiole at the base, angled to a usually sharply pointed tip, the margins finely scalloped or minutely and bluntly toothed, the surfaces moderately to densely pubescent with short, fine, curved hairs (somewhat roughened to the touch), the undersurface with 1 main vein, the pinnate secondary veins usually faint. Median and upper stem leaves 1.5–11.0 cm long, lanceolate to narrowly elliptic or elliptic, the margins of at least the uppermost leaves usually entire, otherwise similar to the lower stem leaves. Inflorescences terminal panicles, appearing flat-topped or less commonly shallowly rounded in overall outline, the heads solitary or in small clusters at the branch tips. Involucre 5–9 mm long, the bracts in 3–5 unequal series. Involucral bracts mostly oblong and rounded to bluntly pointed at the appressed-ascending tip, those of the outermost and rarely also innermost series sometimes narrowly oblong and bluntly to sharply pointed at the tip, the thin, white to yellowish white margins hairy, the outer surface glabrous or finely hairy, with a green to pale green central region of varying width, the midvein slightly thickened, the 1–3 pairs of additional veins usually easily observed. Receptacle naked. Ray florets 6–14, the corollas 3.0–5.5 mm long, yellow. Disc florets 15–35, the corollas 4.5–6.0 mm long, the lobes 0.6–1.1 mm long, yellow. Pappus 3.0–5.5 mm long, most of the bristles slightly thickened toward the tip. Fruits 0.8–1.7 mm long, obovoid, glabrous or sparsely hairy toward the tip. 2n=18, 36. August–October.

Scattered nearly throughout the state, but uncommon in the eastern portion of the Ozark Division and apparently absent from the Mississippi Lowlands (eastern U.S. west to Montana, Colorado, and Oklahoma; Canada). Bottomland prairies, upland prairies, loess hill prairies, savannas, glades, openings of mesic to dry upland forests, and uncommonly banks of streams and rivers; also old fields, pastures, railroads, roadsides, and open, disturbed areas.

Stiff goldenrod is an attractive species that is available for use in wildflower gardens at some native plant nurseries. Steyermark (1963) noted that three varieties were traditionally accepted across the range of S. rigida, but he was able to locate Missouri specimens to document only var. rigida. Heard and Semple (1988) completed detailed morphometric studies on the species and also reported a number of chromosome counts. They validated the three infraspecific taxa accepted by earlier authors but chose to elevate them to subspecies status and also refined the characters separating them. During their examination of more than 1,800 herbarium specimens from throughout the range of S. rigida, Heard and Semple discovered a small number of specimens to document native occurrences of ssp. glabrata and ssp. humilis in Missouri.

 

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1 1. Involucral bracts all glabrous on the outer surface (hairy along the margins); stems glabrous or sparsely hairy below the midpoint (often more densely hairy toward the tip) ... 20A. SSP. GLABRATA

Solidago rigida subsp. glabrata
2 1. At least the outer series of involucral bracts finely hairy on the outer surface; stems moderately to densely hairy throughout

3 2. Involucral bracts all finely hairy on the outer surface, those of the inner series often relatively narrow and sharply pointed at the tip; stems mostly 30–70 cm long ... 20B. SSP. HUMILIS

Solidago rigida subsp. humilis
4 2. Inner series of involucral bracts glabrous or nearly so on the outer surface, relatively broad and rounded to bluntly pointed at the tip; stems (40–)60–150 cm long ... 20C. SSP. RIGIDA Solidago rigida L. subsp. rigida
 


 

 
 
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