8. Solidago gattingeri Chapm.
Pl. 242 c, d;
Map 997
Plants with the
rootstock usually relatively short, stout, vertical to horizontal, and
branched, not producing rhizomes. Stems 1 to few, 30–80(–100) cm long, erect or
ascending, with several fine, longitudinal lines or grooves, glabrous below the
inflorescence (sparse, short hairs occasionally present along the inflorescence
branches), not shiny, not glaucous, the nodes usually lacking clusters of
leaves in the axils of the main leaves. Leaves basally disposed and often
persistent at flowering (additional rosettes sometimes present adjacent to the
flowering stem). Basal and lowermost stem leaves with the blade 8–17 cm long, 1–2
cm wide, mostly 7–10 times as long as wide, narrowly oblanceolate to
oblanceolate, somewhat thickened and stiff, tapered gradually to the winged
petiole at the base, angled to a sharply pointed tip, the margins entire or
finely and sharply toothed, minutely hairy, the surfaces glabrous, the
undersurface with 3 main veins, the lateral pair much finer than the midvein,
the veinlets usually easily observed, forming an irregular, dense network.
Median and upper stem leaves 1–6 cm long, narrowly oblanceolate to narrowly
elliptic or nearly linear, sessile or short-petiolate, often with only 1 main
vein, otherwise similar to the lower stem leaves. Inflorescences relatively
dense, narrow to more commonly broad, pyramidal panicles, the longer branches
and often also the tip arched or nodding, the heads oriented upward along the
branches. Involucre 3–5 mm long, the bracts in 3 or 4 unequal series.
Involucral bracts oblong-ovate to narrowly lanceolate and rounded or bluntly
pointed (those of the outer series often sharply pointed) at the
appressed-ascending tip, the margin sparsely hairy toward the tip, the outer
surface glabrous, usually entirely yellowish but occasionally with a poorly
differentiated, greenish yellow central region above the midpoint, the midvein
somewhat thickened and keeled, and no additional veins present. Receptacle
naked. Ray florets 5–8, the corollas 2–3 mm long, yellow. Disc florets 3–9, the
corollas 3–4 mm long, the lobes 0.5–0.8 mm long, yellow. Pappus 2–3 mm long,
some of the bristles slightly thickened toward the tip. Fruits 1.5–2.0 mm long,
obovoid, glabrous or less commonly sparsely hairy. 2n=18. July–October.
Scattered in the
Ozark and Ozark Border Divisions (Missouri to Arkansas and Tennessee).
Calcareous glades and rock outcrops in upland prairies; rarely also roadsides.
This species has
an odd distribution, occurring in glades of the northern half of the Ozarks and
in the cedar barrens of Tennessee.